✪ Rick's Scribbles & Notions 📝

Sanderson Lectures 2025 & Getting Back On That Horse!

Alright, I haven't had much time to write a new blog post in a few days, so here it is! I'm trying to keep it updated as much as possible. So, what is there to write about? Well, I'm almost done with my Advanced Data Management class at WGU, which is great. I can't wait to take a break from all that studying.

In other news, I've received another review here at WdC! This time on "Lane 96"  , which is a short story that I wrote in 2011. The reviewer this time was Amethyst Agape Angel who was kind enough to give me feedback on my writing (with suggestions on how to fix the story rambling a bit, as well as a couple of unnoticed typos) which I used to revise the story. The latest revision hopes to fix those problems, so if you have the time, go ahead and take a look at it and let me know what you think of it.

Thank you Amethyst!

Speaking of learning to write better, a brand new lecture on professional writing by Brandon Sanderson appeared on my YouTube feed a few nights ago and I found myself watching it. For those of you who don't know, Sanderson is a science fiction/fantasy author with iconic works like The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn. He is known for writing epic fantasy novels set in the Cosmere fictional universe. He's also known for being really good at churning out books almost every year. He's been uploading new content to his YouTube channel recently and about a week or so ago, he uploaded a new lecture series called The Philosophy of Professional Writing. You should check it out if you're interested in writing and publishing a novel. Link below.

My own writing journey has taken a big hit lately. With all the work I've had to do on my classes and the extra stuff that's come up, I've had very little time to write anything new. As a result, my productivity is down, and I am not making as much progress as I'd like. It is what it is, and I can't beat myself up too much for not meeting deadlines that I have imposed on myself. But that's not to say that I haven't been writing at all. In fact, I recently uploaded a new short story called "The Intruder"  which is a bit of a departure from the usual stories that I write. Go check it out if you're up for a tale involving a fight-or-flight choice in an otherwise mundane life moment. Not sure what made me write that one.

I'm working on another short story on the side. As you can probably tell, I'm trying to get back on that horse! (the writing horse). Hoping that I don't get off it any time soon (or that it doesn't throw me off).

I've also been wanting to read more. The last book that I read was probably like a year ago. So I've decided to pick up Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. From what I gather, it's a science fiction novel about humans leaving Earth and going to some other planet. It already shipped from Amazon so I'm just waiting for it to arrive tomorrow. I'm really excited for that one.

What have you been reading lately? Or what have you been writing, for that matter? Please let me know in the comments.

That's all for now!

Have a great week, everyone!