dannedmind

FREE SHORT STORY: CLIP SHOW

Dear Potential Reader,

I’d like to share with you my horror short story CLIP SHOW, in which a pair of parents hope to curb their young daughter’s habit of biting her fingernails.

CLICK HERE TO READ

I intend to post one free short story every month. Check back every First Friday of the Month for a Free-to-read short story.

CLIP SHOW is the kind of story I have a lot of fun writing, as a parent, kids surprise you with their logic for doing something, and I find you have to counter with a similar approach to logic, you have to tell a story to get them to understand. You can’t just say, ‘this is bad for you.’ Because that only leads to a string of ‘why?’

Hope you enjoy.

All the best,

DAN JIRE

WRITING TIPS: TURN OFF SPELLCHECKER

Whether you want it or not, here’s my tips and tricks for writing . . .

Turning off Spellcheck in WORD is my secret to keeping the flow from my imagination to my computer screen going during writing sessions.

Spellcheck’s little red line or suggestions are little distractions. You pound out a paragraph only to see a few lines up. You pause. You correct it. Then you try to get back to the mindset of ‘storyteller’ . . . and then it happens again because you’re trying to type as fast as you imagine.

Spellcheck is great. But it has a time and place. I know I’ll be reading, rereading, editing, and reediting my story many, many times. Sometimes, before I read a completed short story or novel draft, I turn spellcheck back on, make those corrections in one go, and then begin my reread so that the experience isn’t hindered by those corrections.

But not while I’m writing.

Never when I’m writing.

Want more writing tips, check back every Last Wednesday of the month . . .

FREE SHORT STORY: MAD DOG DONALDSON

Dear Potential Reader,

I’d like to share with you my western short story MAD DOG DONALDSON. Which puts a former gunslinger in a precarious position when a familiar named outlaw enters the saloon.

CLICK HERE TO READ

I intend to post one free short story every month. Check back every First Friday of the Month for a Free-to-read short story.

Some of these will make their way into print collections down the road. But MAD DOG DONALDSON is one of my oldest short stories. First published on the now defunct THEWESTERNONLINE.com, it was also the first short story I ever sold. I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of it ever since, so this might not be your first time reading it.

Hope you enjoy.

All the best,

DAN JIRE

What’s happening in 2022

2022 is here and I couldn’t be more excited. Stories that have been in works for years are finally going to see the light of day or at the very least the glow of your bedside lamp during the darkest hours of night . . .

The JIREverse is a collection of tales spanning from a time before time remembered to present day. It is about the hidden world that is all around us–and the nightmares and adventures that lie in wait.

Most of these tales will appear via eBook, a couple hope to see physical form this year, but a few (of the shorter ones) will arrive here–free of any charge other than your time.

I’m looking forward to sharing this world with all of you.

You can sign up for updates via your email or you can incessantly check the website for new updates. My hope is to establish a consistent schedule to posts.

For instance, tune in this Friday for a FREE-TO-READ short story.