"Finished" My Collection, Not Your Abuelita's Folktales, and Submitting Stories #StickWithTheHardWork #ComeToMyReleaseParty #IndieAuthor #Amazon #barrioblues

Well Friends, I finished my collection, Not Your Abuelita's Folktales. Celebration! The second story on the devil mythos turned out pretty great. I always wondered what happened in these tales when the Devil took his victims, so I focused on that aspect of the narrative. I titled it "The Extravagant Stranger" and am saving the original story, "When the Devil Came for Him" for another home. The collection overall is pretty amazing, and even though I can’t celebrate total completion, I am happy it will be done on time.

However, I did have a panic attack because I needed to find a copy editor, and I found a friend who is giving me a friend discount. I am still looking over the stories and am pretty sick of looking over them. In fact, I have to comb through the Spanish, but it will be done on time. Now, I just have to nudge the cover designer.

I did write a tight short story, "Pendejo (The Dumbe One)", which I submitted to Asimov Magazine. Hey, one can dream! Unfortunately, I didn't quite hit the devolution story I blogged about last time. The story I wrote had a similar melancholy tone and decline of civilization, but there was no devolution. It turned out to be an end of the world weather story, but I have something in mind to work on next. I’m thinking of writing a devolution story where young people are negatively impacted by technology, thus causing the end of humanity. That sounds a lot like a lot of anime movies I’ve seen, but I want to put a twist on how technology hurts teens.
 
As many of you know, writing stories less than 5,000 words is not easy for me, but I am trying to have a range of fiction. I lean towards writing long stories, as you know, but I do love the punchiness of a good short story. Plus. I think writing short pieces will save me through the drudgery of revising my novel The Harvest, which I want to get done by August 2019.

Finally, I want to invite you all, once again, to my first-ever book release party of Not Your Abuelita’s Folktales, June 15, 2109, 2:00 p.m. @ RYUU Asian BBQ 2766 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60647. I will be Live Streaming the reading on my Facebook Author Wall from 2:15p.m. to 2:45 p.m. central time. There will be wine and appetizers!
 
Well, writer friends, keep hitting it hard! Experiment and have fun. #barrioblues

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