A Little Progress (Finally!)

After thinking about story progressions and writing a little when I could, I finally finished the first drafts of two stories this week. After I make revisions and get some friends to make suggestions I'll send them out in hopes of getting them published.
One of them was written for www.thefirstline.com. They have a quarterly publication where each story begins with a pre-determined first line.
The other one is an extension of a short story that was published in Catfish Stew. It's grown from 1,750 words to 14,500. I think it's got a chance to find a publication that will accept it.
I've decided I'm going to stay up late at least one night a week to get in more writing. I'll drink extra coffee on the succeeding days to try to stay awake. If I only write when it's convenient and never push myself, I'm not very serious about it. Hopefully it'll help me take the next step in becoming the writer I want to be.
Thanks to my new iPod and a membership at audible.com I've been able to listen to more audio books over the last few weeks. As every successful author says, if you want to be a successful writer, you have to write a lot, and read a lot.
I'm still waiting to hear if I've won an iPod with all of Michael Connelly's books loaded on it. That would be awesome! (and I don't use that word very often).