What's going on?

More stories soon?

Hey all!

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to catch up with my writing thus far and are desperate for more. If not, what are you waiting for?! (I kid, I kid!)

Now, this post comes to you in three parts:

Part one:

So, what’s up? Where are the stories?

First, I’d like to thank you all for reading, commenting, and sharing my writing. In part due to your feedback and good vibes, dear friend, I’ve discovered some professional online publications that may be a good initial home for my work.

I’m currently working on a few stories with the intention of submitting them to publications. Unfortunately, that means I can’t post them here first as the publications I’m looking to submit to require “right of first publishing.” That said, if you’re interested in reading them and providing feedback before I submit them please reach out to me directly or comment below! I’m looking for all sorts of feedback:

• general feedback

  • Oh, I liked this part: the imagery.

  • The dialogue needs work, it’s too formal

    • *Thanks Winchester’s Writers’ Network

  • This part isn’t for me at all, it’s too scary/silly/etc!

• spelling/diction/grammar,

• consistency,

• logic of the story,

• clear writing,

• etc.

If you’re interested in reading, I’m sure you can provide great feedback.

One story is ready and awaiting feedback, it is ~8800 words, probably a 40 minute read, on the simulation argument. If you’re unfamiliar with the philosophy of the simulation argument, you can read the trilemma posed in this section, or you can watch The Matrix trilogy. The working title is While(True):.

The story I’m working on at the moment (I’m taking a break from writing the story to write this. That’s what a break means, right? This isn’t just more work I’m doing, is it?), is meant to be a story of an ancestral alien interacting with our judicial system. I have no idea how long it is going to be. I’ve written around 2k words and it could easily double or more in length. I’m hoping to finish this story this week. The working title is Just Us.

Part two:

Many of my friends prefer audio books now-a-days. That’s a perfectly wonderful way to interface with books and stories, in my humble opinion. Perhaps some of you are wishing that my writing could be consumed in such a fashion! Well, dear reader, I don’t have plans to record my work as of right now, however, I have an option in the interim. Depending on the web browser you’re using you can install extensions (or in the case of Microsoft Edge leverage the built-in reader) to convert Text-to-Speech. There are a plethora of extensions, here’s the one I use for Firefox.

Using the extension looks like this:

I use that extension to read my stories/posts back to me during the editing process to give me a different perspective on my own writing. Sometimes listening to the story makes certain words hit harder/softer than I intended and gives me the opportunity to re-work some of the passages.

If you’re using Microsoft Edge, you can enable the Read Aloud option here:

Part three:

Finally, you may or may not be aware, but I’m looking for a job. Specifically, I’m looking for employment with a company that puts people before profits. It’s amazing how difficult this is to find. So, if you know of a place looking for someone who loves problem solving, building neat things, enjoys taking on the role of team leadership, and has technical skills for software engineering and application security, let me know!

Love you all,

Ryan