Flash Fiction

Posted on February 25, 2023 by Just Chuck

Flash fiction is a genre of fiction, defined as a very short story. While there is no set word count that separates flash fiction from more traditional short stories, flash fiction stories can be as short as a few words. Flash fiction is also known as sudden fiction, short-short stories, microfiction, or microstories.

Sometime around 2010 I got into Flash Fiction. I even bought a book on the genre. It’s around here somewhere. I also frequented a website where you could post your Flash Fiction. Before there were all these sub-generes of Flash Fiction it was just called Flash Fiction and the site had a 55 word limit. I submitted a few things but this fifty-four word one I considered my best and it got some nice comments.

Bobby’s crude taunts and threats continued to torment me days later.  His words wound deeper than any stick or stone ever could.  Had I the courage then, a swift right hook could have soothed the pain.  The finality of a blunt instrument to the head and a shallow grave gave some measure of consolation.

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My Book that’s not a book…yet

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Just Chuck

I’m working on one of my new years resolutions. I’m working on my book. I’ve got a story, I’ve got a protagonist and antagonist. And I think it’s got an interesting premise. Maybe I’ll get the courage up and share that with the general population soon. I haven’t even shared it with loved ones. It’s sort of a Sci-Fi story but leans towards and action/adventure.

The question I’m asking myself is – do I flesh it all out, outline the plot and then get down to writing during NaNoWriMo? Or do I just get the high level points (which I kinda have) down and just start writing. Try to complete it in 3 months.

I’ve been participating in a 7 day writing challenge to write 1000 words per day. To do that I have been participating in online sprint writing sessions. These run 5 minutes a piece, and I’ve found I can write 1000 words in 30 minutes. But those 1000 words will need major rework. I find when I do these sprints that are stream of conscious, I basically tell the story and don’t show. To get 1000 words that quick you need around 200 words per 5 minutes and that means not so much character dialogue. So its me, as the narrator, “telling” the story. Not showing through character actions But it has let me capture some interesting additions to the story that I had not thought of initially. So maybe there is some use there.

So if I go forth with this current idea and spend 3 months writing it, I’ll put together a first draft of my memoir during NaNoWriMo. Yes, my memoir. That seems like an easy, straight forward story once I come up with a premise I like.

So New Years resolution #4 is underway and I think I’m going to do it this year. Oh, and I’m still writing in my journal at least every other day if not daily. It’s good therapy and one day perhaps my kids will read it after I’m gone and understand what was going on with me during this time of my life. My journal along with my memoir will give them a somewhat complete perspective of their father. Something I wish my Dad had done.

Alright enough philosophical meanderings. Interested in hearing my premise?

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Creative Fear

Posted on February 10, 2023 by Just Chuck

This post is off the cuff, unplanned.

I’m a creative person. But I’m not. I come up with a good idea for a book, I work on the book, I create a premise, I create a 3 Act overview outline, I read books on writing, I download helpful templates for writing, I watched oodles of YouTube videos promising I can do it. And then I get scared.

The Perfectionist in me steps forward and asks in an angry voice, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re not a writer, or an artist, or a comic book creator, or a songwriter. What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m creating.”, I timidly respond.

“You’re friends and family are going to laugh at what you are trying to create. It’s not good enough. You’re wasting your time. You’ll never be a writer, or an artist or a songwriter. There is no money in creating. Stop this nonsense.”

“Maybe you’re right, what was I thinking.” So I push that creative person back into the closet and let the responsible, dependable Adult step forward.

The responsible, dependable Adult goes to a boring non-creative job, makes good money and shares that money with family and friends in need. Many depend on responsible, dependable Adult. Adult works with people who take life and work seriously. These people drain the life out of him. Work succubus. Adult wishes for a day when he didn’t have to be responsible and dependable for anyone but himself, and his wife of course.

I’m a creative person. Really, I am. Just let me out of this closet.

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Vinyl of the Month – The Partridge Family Album by The Partridge Family

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Just Chuck

Before there was my undying fandom that is KISS, before Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and many other rock and metal bands that I now listen to (that includes Slipknot), there was The Partridge Family. Well actually there was the Monkees and the Banana Splits, but I never owned their albums until much later.

I bought 45s as a kid and I owned a number of Partridge Family 45s before their album. I still have those 45’s and the song I Think I Love You was and still is a favorite. And of course I was glued to the TV whenever the show came on. It ran for 4 seasons (1970-1974) but I only watched the first two before my family moved from St. Louis Missouri to the island of Puerto Rico where there was no ABC, NBC or CBS, at least not in English.

When I got the chance I bought The Partridge Family Album (released 1970). I bought both their albums actually. The second one being called Up to Date (released 1971). Sadly, I only have the first still in my possession, I think I donated the second album in a rash decision to burn disco albums. I didn’t own any disco albums (Buddha forbid at the time) so I sacrificed Up to Date.

The Partridge Family Album always elicits fond memories of the two years spent in St. Louis. Days of traipsing to school in the snow, playing street hockey and trying to ice skate on frozen ponds. My parents bought me hockey skates BUT being from Mississippi they had no clue the skates needed sharpening. I had a helluva time trying to skate. Many, many years later as an adult I got skates, got them sharpened correctly and played in adult hockey leagues for years.

But I digress and keep jumping down history holes. So many memories listening to The Partridge Family Album that I chose it as this month’s Vinyl of the Month. Were you a Partridge Family fan?

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Still Journaling

Posted on January 28, 2023 by Just Chuck

Is journaling a word? It tells me I’m spelling it wrong but doesn’t offer a corrected version. Anyway I’m still writing in my diary (2023 resolution #1), maybe not every day but at least every other day. My life is pretty boring and repetitive, which I like. Lately there has been some drama with my oldest son but otherwise my day is:

  1. wake up around 7:30
  2. brush teeth, take shower
  3. get dressed
  4. is it Wednesday? then I’m working from home, go login to work
  5. not Wednesday? eat some breakfast while logged into work at the kitchen table
  6. pack up back pack with work laptop, lunch etc.
  7. drive to work – no traffic = 25 minutes, shit traffic = 35-45 minutes
  8. work
  9. eat lunch around 12:30, usually a Marie Callendar’s microwaveable meal, and read a digital comic
  10. work some more
  11. can i leave early and beat the rush hour traffic? leave around 3:45-4:00
  12. get home and log back into work and finish out the day in home office around 5:45
  13. can’t leave early? leave work around 6:00-6:30 because traffic doesn’t start disbursing until after 6:00
  14. eat dinner while reading a digital comic. is it Taco Tuesday? Eat tacos from homemade, taco bell or taco bueno. Otherwise we eat from other fast food joints.
  15. catch up on TV shows via Hulu, HBO Max, Prime, Disney and YouTube TV.
  16. If I remember, write in journal (diary)
  17. go up to bed
  18. change into sleep clothes and brush teeth
  19. read book in bed – at the moment reading The Write Structure by Joe bunting (a novel writing principles book)
  20. go to sleep around midnight
  21. Repeat

So there you go, a day in the life of…. Somewhere in there I’ve been working on my novel (2023 resolution #4). The Write Structure has actually helped a bunch in organizing my idea. It’s going to take another month or so at my current rate to ge the book outlined out (I’m a Plotter) and then I’ll need to decide if I want to write it or wait until NaNoWriMo. We’ll see. I may get brave and share my premise here soon. I’ll definitely need to blog my progress.

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Recent Toy Photography

Posted on January 13, 2023 by Just Chuck

One of my goals in 2023 (feels weird to say that) is to get more Toy Photography work done. These were taken in December 2022 but this is the start of a whole series using these Joy Toy 1/18 figures and sets. Four shots of Mech Pilot and Mech Suit from my Threat Neutralization Team (T.N.T.) comic book idea. Working on that too. To see more, hit up my Instagram site.

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Happy Birthday Elvis

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Just Chuck

You would’ve been 88.

Yeah that’s me.
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iJournal

Posted on January 6, 2023 by Just Chuck

I’ve gone and started a journal again (see Resolution #1). I bought a blank book and have written my thoughts and comments for the last two days. Its a bit freeing although my arm is hurting from writing so much. I get going and sometimes have to just say “that’s enough”. I got a lot on my mind I guess.

I was going through some old composition notebooks I found in a drawer and one was my last time attempt at keeping a journal. I started on January 1, 2020 and made it to January 18, 2020 before giving up. I’ll see if I can beat that this year.

In that journal I had written 7 Resolutions for 2020. they were:

  1. Write in a journal
  2. Lose 72 lbs by 10/10/2020 (my birthday)
  3. Record 4 songs – 1 song per quarter
  4. Sell off excess comic books, guitars, toys and start to unclutter
  5. Plan for retirement by staying out of debt
  6. Do NaNoWriMo an complete 11/30/2022
  7. Get studio set up and have on paying client by 12/31/2020

Well obviously I didn’t complete any of these in 2020 because many of them show up now for 2022. For the record 2020 was the year of the C-word and the world locked itself down and I was in quarantine twice for possible infection (I wasn’t) and my son was in ICU for 3 days etc. So it was a rough year and hard to do #4 and #7. And #6… well I had planned on it (even blogged about here whether to do it or not) but didn’t participate. Maybe this year.

So I’m doing the journal thing. Next resolution to work on is the book thing. At least get my plot outlined and everything set and fully participate in NaNoWriMo this year. Or finish my comic book script and find an artist (sadly I can’t draw to the level I need this to be) to realize my dream of publishing a comic book. Or fire up the recording studio equipment and start working on song 1 of my 4 song album coming out in December.

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2023 Life Resolved

Posted on January 3, 2023 by Just Chuck

I’m going to Journal this year. That is resolution #1. I’ve ordered a nice brand new journal for this endeavor. I figured it’s cheaper than a therapist. I need to vent and no one is interested in listening to it. So I’m going to journal. I’d do it here but you never know when someone you work with or a family or friend will find your Blog and then BOOM, big drama.

So I’m going to privately put my thoughts down on paper. It’s not the first time. When I first got out of high school and headed off to college on my own I started a journal (or diary if you like). I kept that book religiously, documenting everything that happened that first semester of college. From leaving home on a plane to spending the weekend in an empty dorm (no football game on campus that weekend) reading the Amityville Horror, I documented EVERYTHING.

And then I tore all the pages out and destroyed them. I didn’t want anyone, including my future wife, reading it. It was just too revealing. My very private and innermost thoughts. I worried it would fall into the wrong hands. Like some secret Master Plan. I didn’t do anything like cheat on a test, or anything immoral or illegal. It was just very very innermost thoughts and feeling that I would never share in public. I still have the Journal with half of the pages missing. I regret that action now.

Resolution #2 is I need to slow down and don’t give a fuck. Meaning I’m done stressing over stupid shit that in the grand scheme of things doesn’t matter. Is missing a work deadline by a day going to tilt the world off its axis? Sadly the pandemic has come and gone and didn’t teach us anything. My work environment is back to “work your ass off for the good of the owners”. To add to this, I lost a work buddy the week before Christmas to cancer and the company replaced him within a week. Sad really.

Resolution #3, I gotta lose weight. I’m desperate. So desperate I almost bought a bottle of those gummi bear weight loss chewables that are supposed to have you dropping 50 lbs within a month. I just need to lose 70 lbs. I didn’t buy them. But I’m still considering it.

My last two resolutions, and I’m only doing 5 cause I don’t think I’ve ever resolved more than two, have to do with writing/creating. I need to write (complete) a book or comic book, and create, record and release a song into the world. I say this every year but….. sigh….. I never complete either of them.

So that’s it. 5 resolutions. I’m pretty sure I’ll start #1 and (like this blog) get lazy and stop. Fail at #2 (or get fired). I’ll try #3 but fail. And I’ll not get around to #4 or #5. Yay me. Lazy and procrastinator.

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Vinyl of the Month – The London Chuck Berry Sessions by Chuck Berry

Posted on January 1, 2023 by Just Chuck

Chuck Berry was a guitar Legend. I was introduced to Chuck Berry, along with Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and many others, by my Mom. She and her sisters were into the “sock hop” music of the day and I got my love of music from her. So I knew Chuck Berry through is early songs like Johnny B. Goode, Maybelline and Sweet Little Sixteen. It wasn’t until 1972 when I heard My Ding-a-Ling on the radio that I became aware of the album The London Chuck Berry Sessions.

The album was released in June 1972, about the same time my family moved to Puerto Rico. And later that year I heard My Ding-A-Ling on the Armed Forces radio network. We loved the song. After all, how many times did you or your Mom call your penis a ding-a-ling. You didn’t? Must be a Southern thing. Ding-a-ling, tally whacker, these were nicknames for a boy’s tool and any song about it was going to illicit snickers. So we giggled every time we heard the song on the radio.

Jumping ahead in time, based on a hazy recollection, I bought the album at the Post Exchange (PX) on Ft. Buchanan P.R. in 1972 or 1973. On side 1 there were studio songs and on side two was a live recording of a 30 minute concert in London.

Side Two starts off with the gem “Reeling’ and a Rockin‘”, written by Chuck Berry and recorded originally in 1957. The song is an hour by hour account of a couple engaging in sexual activities. “Looked at my watch and it was quarter til nine, she said oooo Chuck baby this sure feel’s fine”. I loved it, I know every verse of this song.

Following Reelin’ and a Rockin‘ was a surprising extended version of My Ding-A-Ling. On the radio you only heard a few verses with the chorus, this was a full 11:33 of entertainment. I listened to Mr. Berry instruct the London audience on how to sing the chorus. The boys sing “Ding-A-Ling” and the girls part fits right around the boy’s part as they sing “My” and “I want you to play with My”. The sexual innuendos are flung left and right as Mr. Berry gets the group singing together. Fact I did not know – the original song was written by Dave Bartholomew in 1952. In 1972, Chuck Berry took it to #1 in the U.S. and UK.

As if those two songs weren’t enough, side two and the concert and finished off with a rendition of the classic Johnny B. Goode (1958, written by Chuck Berry). Based on the announcer at the end of the song requesting concert goers to vacate the arena, it sounds like Chuck Berry was opening for Pink Floyd.

Sadly Chuck Berry passed away in 2017. See my other post from 2017 on that. So many memories of listening to this album and singing along. For that The London Chuck Berry Sessions in this month’s Vinyl of the Month. Have a listen to it.

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