I am proud to announce, thanks to a kind heads-up from my friend and fellow author Sanford Allen, that my first published work is up at Tales from the Moonlit Path. Tales is a terrific online magazine specializing in odd, frightening tales, so I'm doubly honored to have my work included in their November/Halloween issue.

Tales introduces my story wonderfully:

Thomas McAuley's, "Spirit into Speck" is a delightful Halloween-ish tale about a senile witch who ultimately gets her comeuppance.

This publishing game is one of patience to be sure. Four months ago, I received confirmation that Tales From the Moonlit Path wanted to publish my short story. That's a painful long time to wait, but I hear from my fellow writers that is not at all out of the ordinary.

Please take a moment out of your day and enjoy my little witchy tale »

And an early Happy Hallloween to everyone!!!

I'm not normally a sci-fi buff but a copy of Phillip K. Dick's Blade Runner (Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep) had been calling out to me for years, so I finally opened it up. To be honest, I can't recall why I had the book in the first place. I loved the movie; it's one of my favorites of all time, but it wasn't the sci-fi or steam punk that hooked me. It was the desolation and quiet that I loved.

Being a bit of a mystic, I respected and listened to the fact that this book just fell in front of me recently.

It was an amazing read, possibly because it fits a particular tone I need for my current work. There is a sadness and drone-like quality to the lead character, a bounty hunter. He must also face the possibility of there being nothing greater than himself in the Universe, an abysmal prospect for most. All of this was handled well though surprisingly not with perfection which, in an odd way, comforted me, possibly because it heartens me I can achieve the stillness and emptiness I need for parts of my novel.

Despite the imperfection of the writing, I feel I may be entering a Phillip K. Dick stage. There's something intangible about his writing that I'm driven to learn, something that I haven't felt since reading Camus and Suskind in the 80s. Reading Dick's work has been a coming home of sorts.

However long ago, nearly two years I'd guess without looking, I put aside my story titled "Felled" at one point and "The Letter From William Waklin" later on. At the time I had reservations about a few things related to the story. As I worked through my original story arc, I continued to read about and learn what made for successful and unsuccessful stories: pacing, characterization, consistency in POV, etc. Very early on, I found I was not ready for this story. I had much more to learn, more stories to write, more hours in front of the keyboard.

In the last two(ish) years, I wrote a number of short stories, a very nearly complete adult novella and a complete youth novella. Also in that time, I entered at least ten flash fiction contests. From the time I abandoned what I often call my "head-on-a-stump" story to now, I have evolved into a much more proficient writer (if, admittedly, not more prolific).

So I have taken the time since Chris Roberson's presentation to the San Antonio Writers Guild to work on a very detailed outline of the events in this newest iteration. I very much like the direction I'm headed now.

Due to the shortcomings of the first three drafts, I kept a keen eye out for solutions to any problems that killed each of them. I feel safe that I won't fall into the same holes as before. I'm confident there are more, new holes out there to fall into though, so I'm not going into this sleepwalking (or "somnambulating" as Joe McKinney wrote in Dead City).

This morning I sat at Starbucks and made terrific progress on an opening passage I had been massaging for a week. I had originally written the passage from one character's perspective. Last night, unable to sleep due to the idea bugs swarming around in my head, I realized I could solve two shortcomings of the section by telling it from the perspective of other person involved. So far, the novel-length work will have three main sections, each with a different POV and this new beginning, ending/section from yet another, forth POV.

Handling the story in this way will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it to be sure.

My wife, Nadine is turning...well, turning tomorrow. It's her birthday! And she's pretty awesome. We've been married for more than 20 years now and I'd say she's half responsible for that rare feat in these decadent modern times.

As with any couple, we've had our rough and smooth times, but she's always been there. She's largely made me who I am today, a moral, somewhat centered person whereas, before, I was strongly not so. She continues to be a source of centering and pragmatic support when I tend to drift into my world of dreams. She's always non-judgmental when I am anything but toward her. And, as shallow as it probably is, she's never stopped caring about her appearance, has never embarrassed me in public or been anything but impressive to me and everyone she meets. A trophy wife of the perfect sort for my personal needs. Thank you and woo-hoo!

So, Happy Birthday Nadine. You smell like a bean! You are my sunshine.

After many hours of hard work (on my own time...waaaah) the new San Antonio Writers Guild website is done.

Okay. Here's the main reason why lately I haven't done the amount or quality of writing I normally produce. I've been designing a kit -- that's the shorts and jersey set for competitive cyclists -- for my son's team, Bicycle Heaven. He's been working there since he was legal to work and had been hanging out there, learning the ropes, a year before that, so I'm infinitely indebted to that elite bike shop for helping make my older boy less of a maniac than he is.

This is the first kit I've ever designed -- I'm only still at the mock-up stage, by the way -- and it has proven to be a challenge. Designing in two dimensions has its own set of obstacles and considerations that I barely think about anymore, having done it well for nearly a decade, but designing in three dimensions with the goal being a physical product and not a website is altogether another set of challenges. I put in 14 hours to get it to this stage and I'm still looking at half again that many to get it to the templated stage when FINAL final approval comes in from the sponsors. Regardless, I would do this again if given the opportunity since it's for a great cause and a great bunch of people.

Here's the front:

And here's the back: (and, yes, I realize the colors are juxtaposed on the shorts; it'll get fixed ;-)

Check out all that Bicycle Heaven has to offer by visiting the store at the corner of Stone Hue and Huebner here in San Antonio or click here to check out their wondermous site I designed for them a couple years back. Viva la Bicycle Heaven!

I admit it. I sputtered out in the last two stages of the 2009 NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Short Story Championships. I finished 26th overall with 56 points total. The winner, earning 50 points for her final story soared to 111 points, prestige and a healthy cash prize. Congratulations to her. It's a long comittment, this contest. And I fully expect I'll participate in it next year.

I'm disappointed in my performance to a certain extent. I know I can write better than my last two stories. But if I look at my standings, I nearly made it into the top 10% which could be considered an accomplishment of sorts. If it were a grade, I would have gotten an 89, a B+, the correct grade I'd say. 

I think I overwrote in the last two months. Whereas I should have been making progress on my longer works when I wasn't involved with a contest weekend, I succumbed to editing the contest stories, so for nearly 4 months, I never enjoyed the necessary distance from them that I should have allowed myself. By the end of the contest I was so tired of these obviously prompted stories, only half of which I truly had a solid handle on.

Live and learn.

My critique group just picked up a wonderful addition in Joe McKinney, author of Dead City and countless other published and unpublished works of various lengths. Besides being an extraordinary author, he is also, and arguably more impressively, a San Antonio homicide detective, a vocation that lends his disturbing stories authenticity that can't be gained from a second-hand interview.

I initially met Joe when he guest spoke at the San Antonio Writers Guild, sharing with us his history, writing  techniques and work habits. He immediately impressed me with his calm and linear thinking, something he no-doubt cultivated as a skill necessary to his unique line of work.

Only writing with an eye on getting published since 2005, Joe has followed a fast path to success writing late into many evenings only to wake early for another day of sleuthing. His dedication and focus are palpable when in his presence.

His added insight has been valuable to all of us. I feared we as a group might not be able to keep up with his quality and prolificacy; however, I've since found that he is indeed a mortal, eager to better his writing just like the rest of us. He seems satisfied with his experience thus far. He has confided he was not formerly someone who had faith that a group setting would be comfortable or beneficial but that he found our sessions to be both.

So again a warm welcome to Joe. Check him out in more depth at JoeMcKinney.net. And be sure to support his work. Click here to buy Dead City.