Page 6 | MediocreMan

Amongst the Beach Detritus · 25 January 2025

Beach detritus. You always hope you’ll find Aladdin’s lamp or the corner of a buried treasure chest when you comb the beach. But there is always just beach detritus. And people’s garbage. People can be so disgusting. That’s when I saw it. Lying there amongst the mostly empty food containers and wrappers. A gold ring with a diamond.

The diamond ring glinted in the sunlight. A special ray of sunshine had hit it just right so that I was the only one who could see it. I walked, nay ran, to it. After all these years of beach combing, had I finally found a treasure worth keeping? I moved the wrappers and food containers (Did they have food in them?) away from my prize. “Come to me, my precious.”

I was just about to grab it when I realized that there was something inside the ring. A finger! Oh no. A detached finger! The horror. But then, it moved. And I saw my great folly. The finger was attached to a hand, which was attached to an arm, which was attached to a body. And the food containers were not garbage, which was why many of them still had food in them. It was somebody’s picnic. I had stumbled upon somebody’s messy picnic. And somebody lying amongst her own garbage. Or perhaps she had just been resting her hand on the ground near the wrappings. Leaning on her arm as she talked.

She noticed how close I was to her hand. She shouted, “Joey! Get that crab away from me!”

Joey laughed as he shooed me away. “It looked like he wanted your ring, Sophie.”

I obliged Joey and slinked away. He thwarted me this time, but he would be back. And I would be waiting. Waiting amongst the beach detritus.

[Note: This is a piece of fiction that I wrote on DailyPrompt.com, a writing app and service. I wrote about DailyPrompt last week.]

[Note: There is a sequel coming next week called Share on facebook Tweet

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DailyPrompt · 18 January 2025

Photo courtesy of Ryan Lindsey

I may not really need it, but I got a new writing tool. DailyPrompt.

Even though writers write, sometimes we need something to write about. Sometimes we need prompts. So I joined DailyPrompt to get prompts daily.

Now, I do not really need writing prompts every day. Or very often really. I mainly decided to join because a friend of mine, who ought to be a writing tool salesman, told me I should. Tim keeps telling me about all these different writing tools, and I have gotten a couple on his recommendation. But actually, I was not even going to try out the DailyPrompt app or site because, like I said, I already write as a habit. Actually, writing is more like breathing than a habit. And actually, that is another story. (Actually, already written, mind you.)

So if I was not even thinking of trying it, why did I actually join DailyPrompt? I am so glad you asked.

I decided to join DailyPrompt for two reasons. One is getting feedback. You can ask for feedback when you post some story or poem or scene or whatever you are writing. People can also comment on anything you put out there for all to see. Which are daunting thoughts to be sure. At least if you are afraid of rejection or are unsure of yourself. But I have been blogging for so long without having many comments or very many faithful followers (thank you, faithful few), that I welcome rejection and any comments. Positive, negative, or anywhere in between. Please give me feedback. (Okay. That sounded a bit needy.)

At any rate.

The second reason I joined was to get in on the competitions. There are competitions with monetary prizes. When Tim told me about those, I thought that would be enough reason to join. After all, he sent me a link for a lifetime membership with a discount. It cost me so much less than an arm and a leg that it was laughable. And if I ever happen to win a competition, I could pay for that lifetime subscription. Which would be fun. Winning any competition is fun. Especially, a writing competition. Not that I am that competitive, mind you. At least not in everything. (I did not even make the top ten in my first competition on DailyPrompt.)

The funny thing is that the day I joined, I wrote a short story (~1600 words) and a poem. At least that was what I put out there for all to see. At least everybody on DailyPrompt. My fellow DailyPrompt users can see what I wrote. And they can comment. Even critique. And they have commented! I have gotten likes and comments on several of the twenty-something pieces I have put out there.

Speaking of critiques (and thus editing). I know that I have work to do on everything I write. Lisa Cron made it clear in her book, Wired For Story, that writing is rewriting. Period. So spending a short time with a story that came from a picture prompt should still be edited. It should still be polished. At least a little bit. Which is where the critiques come in. I actually like to hear where I have missed the mark. I want the feedback. Always. It makes me better.

(By the way, there is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) critique tool on DailyPrompt that you can also use to help make you a better writer. I have only used it one time so far. It seemed pretty accurate on its assessment.)

If you have not already guessed, I enjoy writing. And I have fun writing to prompts. Oh, I might not write to those DailyPrompt prompts daily, but I have written something almost every day since joining. And I have posted all but one piece (because I am still working on it). So even though I do not think I really needed a new writing tool, I got one. Check it out at DailyPrompt.com.

[By the way. The next couple of weeks are going to be pieces of fiction that I wrote from a single prompt from DailyPrompt. Let me know if you like them.]

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Editing Is Never Done · 11 January 2025

Editing a book is never done. Ever.

One nice thing about print-on-demand books is that when you find errors in your books, you can just correct them and update the book. Nobody will be the wiser. It is slick. Of course, that does mean that you need to read your own books. Something that I do not always want to do.

I already wrote about reading the book Wired For Story. And one of the lessons that I came away with is that writing is rewriting. Which means that you are never done. Which is fine, at least when you publish print-on-demand books. Just keep rewriting those stories. The books will get better and better. And maybe somebody will even read them. Someday. Hopefully. Maybe.

I know that I need to edit and update my books, not just because of Wired For Story, but because I actually started reading a couple of them. I actually knew that I needed to do read them even before I read Wired For Story. But I wanted to stay in bliss. I wanted to be ignorant of all the mistakes that I had made. Which, I suppose, means that I wanted other people to just ignore those mistakes and enjoy the stories. Which could happen. Hopefully. Maybe.

I do notice all the mistake that I have made in the writing that I have done. Okay. Obviously not. If I did, I would not have any mistakes anymore. I would notice them on first reading. Something I actually do. I actually read my books before I release them to the wild. Before I let them take those first baby steps. But apparently, I do not read well enough. I could not get beyond a couple pages in one of my books before I noticed two or three egregious errors. Oh the horror.

(By the way, I do not know that I have ever used egregious in a sentence. I have heard it many times. And when I have heard it, I have known that it meant terrible. Or as the internet says, shocking. I just never found a use for the word until today. So I thought I would remind myself what it actually means.)

At any rate.

If you are wondering if I ever go back and edit my blogs, the answer is no. I do not even read them once I post them. Okay. Not entirely true. I have gone back and read some of my posts. I have even fixed an error or two. But usually, I leave well enough alone. Even though a blog post may not be well enough. Although, if I put together any more collections of blog posts, I will probably need to do some editing.

Well, I have strayed from the original path, but that is okay.

I know that I need to do more editing of my books. Especially those that I have already released. But that is okay. After all, nobody reads them. And those who have read them have been gracious enough to ignore the errors. But I need to go back and fix them. And fix them. And fix them some more. Which is a nice thing about print-on-demand. You can always fix those errors and only those who have the unfixed copies will ever know. And that is a good thing. Especially since writing really is rewriting and editing is never done.