As you know, I’ve been working on my new short story, “The Green Cross,” for the past month or so. Lately I’ve been struggling with it and I haven’t made as much progress as I had hoped. I had previously given myself a deadline at the end of this month. It doesn’t look like I’m going to meet that deadline.

I have been reading up on some World War I material that I hope provides some insight for my story. Chief among these is Poilu, the memoirs of French soldier Louis Barthas who fought in throughout the entire war. I’ve been enjoying it so far. It reminds me of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, another book I’d definitely recommend reading if you haven’t already done so.

As for when I might finish “The Green Cross”, I don’t know. I hope to complete the first draft by the end of August.

Until then, stay tuned.

Martin

Hey everybody,

Just dropping by to let you know that I’m working on my new short story, “The Green Cross”, which I’m hoping to complete by the end of the month. I announced the story last week and I said I would give updates before I finish the story. Well here goes…

“The Green Cross” is a literary historical fiction story set during World War I. I graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor’s Degree in History and a minor in Creative Writing. This story is a blend of two of my favorite things, and since the First World War is perhaps my favorite historical subject, I hold a great degree of interest in this story.  I feel that there isn’t a whole lot of media surrounding WW1, which is especially disappointing for me since WW1 started 102 years ago. This past week was also the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, which is one of, if not the, most devastating battles in human history.

Chemical warfare was prevalent during this war. Both sides used different forms of gas to attack their enemies. The Germans would mark their artillery shells that carried gas with crosses of varying colors, with each color representing a different type of gas that would target a specific part of the body. Green Cross shells would typically carry gas that targeted the lungs.

I don’t want to spoil everything, so that’s all I’m offering for today. “The Green Cross” is a literary historical fiction short story set during World War I, perhaps involving the use of chemical warfare in some shape or form.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more info.

Martin

Hello everybody!

It has been a long time since I’ve worked on my writing. I apologize for that. But now I’ve decided to get back to doing what I love doing the most: writing, writing, writing.

But first, I need to plug something. The last time I posted on my blog, I announced that my first completed short story, “Four Firewoods”, was available to purchase and download for the Amazon Kindle for $0.99. If you don’t own a Kindle, don’t worry since you can download an app for your PC, Mac, iOS, Android, or whichever platform you want to use. Four Firewoods is available here.

And on to other news, I’ve started work on my next short story! I’ve tentatively titled it “The Green Cross”. I don’t want to reveal too much right now, as I’m still working on some of the details, but I can say that it is a piece of “literary” fiction, much like “Four Firewoods.” I hope to complete the first draft by July 15th, so stay tuned for more updates until then.

Thanks for reading,

Martin