Michael Pickell

Song Mood: Bittersweet Symphony by the Verve.  I always liked the Verve and Coldplay.  They kind of sooth me when I get really depressed.  This lyric is awesome, it makes me feel like someone really understands: I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah.  I put on some Pandora while I was working this morning.  The song that has been plaguing me for at least a week keeps on playing in my head.  So I put on some music as I worked.  Then after a while, turned it off once I wasn’t thinking of the song.
I know, I should be writing on my novel.  Well, the books I ordered a week ago came and so I figured a quick note in my journal would suffice for writing and then I will start reading one of them.  The paperbacks for Tor.com get printed in the same place where the books I have on Amazon get printed.  At the very back it tells the date that the book was printed on. I am closely examining them.  Sometime over the weekend, I will set up a template for the front and then …

Song Mood: Left Hand Free by alt-j.  A song to get things done.  Or a song to try and get another song out of my head.  Love and Affection keeps playing in my head.  It was weird, I made a quick trip to the grocery store because I had run out of Triscuits and hummus and that song was playing on the store’s radio.  My car radio has been shut off for weeks now as I drive around listening to audiobooks on my phone.  I suppose I could use blutooth, but most of the time I’m just walking around the lake and don’t want to stop the audiobook.  So it was a shock when I walked in the store and heard that song of all songs.
Didn’t get any writing done.  I’m just really tired after working ten hours and walking around the lake.  I’m just doing a journal, so I’m okay with myself not writing what I should be.
The numbers seemed more random today.  Some days they don’t seem random at all and others they do.
Tamsyn Muir announced on her twitter account that the Harrow the Ninth release date has been…

Song Mood: Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.  Sometimes I feel like I walking in a ring of fire.  As the fire rises around me, I wonder why I’m in the ring of fire.
The numbers have been pointing towards the woman who hates me most.  I see sequences of numbers all the time.  License plates.  Addresses.  Phone numbers.  Numbers that normally seem random, but I have assigned meaning for them.  And so with the assigned meanings, don’t seem so random sometimes.  Like seeing 214, someone’s birthday, 920 then a combination number (two people’s birthdays).  Seeing various sequences pointing towards someone.
While Saturday, I was feeling the love, Sunday I felt the hate guided towards me.  I think I was called self-guided, meaning I was trying to promote my stuff.  In reality, this whole quarantine thing sucks.  If I had a hundred books out, the ebooks for them all would be free, just so someone could pass the time.  I might be a terrible writer, but even terrible writing can help pass time.  Any…

Song Mood: Cake by the Ocean by DNCE.  For some odd reason when I’m craving cake, this song plays in my head.  Though when I go grocery shopping, I stock up on the staples but skimp out on the non-essentials.
Got at least eight hours of sleep last night and actually slept to almost 7:30am.  But the days following the lack of sleep night, are just like hangovers.  I’m just really sleepy the whole day.  This would be the first day and tomorrow will be the second day in the aftermath and I’ll feel better tomorrow.  It’s one of the reasons why I don’t drink as much because hangovers can last two to three days and who really wants that? On this thought, I can really feel sorry for the single parents.  When a couple has a kid, they can take shifts with the baby so the other one can get enough rest.  The night owl is in charge at night and the morning person is in charge in the morning.  Single parents might not be able to do that.
Today was a success in writing.  I was able to get in 2,000…

If you’ve read the first two parts of this series, I’ve gone over the basics of writing a flash fiction story.  Now I’ll cover submissions.  The brilliant thing about flash fiction is not only are they quick to write, quick to edit, but they help out in the whole submission process.  In truth, they help with most important part of the writing life: rejection.  Something every writer, every artist has to go through.  Every human being really, but that’s a different story. Most writer’s fear rejection, but it’s really a friend trying to help.  Depending on your writing level, the types of rejection may change depending on with whom you are submitting.  Magazines or book publishers, a form rejection is sent to many of various writing talents.  If an editor likes what you sent but can’t accept the manuscript, they will send you a rejection letter stating what needs to be worked on.  Editors can like a work but reject it for different reasons like the story didn’t fit what the magazine pu…

Song Mood: Love and Affection by Nelson.  I don’t know why that song was stuck in my head.  My first concert was Nelson because my sister wanted to go see them and I had my driver’s license.  My parents would only let her if I went too.  So my first real concert was a glam band.  The frontmen for the band were sons of Ricky Nelson who died tragically in an airplane crash.  I imagine that they were something of dreamboats, in which my sister was a fan before she got into heavy metal music.
Super tired today.  The dog barked all night.  I tried sleeping in my car, but after four hours decided it was just too cold.  I got an hour of sleep before going to work in my makeshift office.  Good thing I only had to work for a couple of hours.  I told my cousin about it and he said I should have told someone, but I hate waking people up at night.  After work, I got about a couple of hours of sleep and then walked around the lake.
So, it’s been a crap day and the only thing that I could do that …