Thank you bloggers, and those out there in IM-land who have written or chinged me to give words of encouragement about my sci-fi short story project.

This is very different for me. I write technical papers as a small part of my career. I've written academic papers for my bachelor's (math, engineering, business classes), and master's degrees (mostly taking literature classes). None of those papers were fiction.

More recently, I've been able to write some fiction in what I call "episodes." It's humor, written in small doses, anywhere from a single page to a five page "Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3" about my protagonist. It's not unlike writing for a soap opera, except that it's humorous, and has "story arcs" from one episode to another. Cartoon shorts, if you will, but episodic in nature.

Sci-fi is a completely different ball of wax. I really don't know what I'm doing in this realm, but I do have a grip on the basics of story line, characters, weird events, and a plot twist in the end. I can try. My deadline for submission to the contest is August 3. If I can't come up with something viable by mid-July, I probably won't submit it.

Regardless, this should be fun, and thanks once again, everyone, for the encouragement!