Jim has always wanted to be a writer. He wrote his first story when he was in the 4th grade but thought it was boring so he threw it away. Flash forward fifty-plus years to 2011. By then he’d been married and had children and grandchildren. He’d had a long career in sales and technical training for a large manufacturing company. He’d even owned a small business. But, while helping to care for the last days of a loved one, he realized that life was passing him by and he’d better get going if he wanted to fulfill his dream. The next day he started writing and hasn’t stopped since.
He began by writing a poem a day for a year. Then a haiku a day for a year. Then a four-line stanza a day for a year. Then a six-line rhymed verse a day for a year.
In 2015 he started writing short stories. He took an online writing class and met a successful author who became his mentor. She suggested he write the best possible stories he could and post them on a blog. He followed her advice and continued working and honing his craft.
He began submitting stories in early 2018 and in March his first short story was featured on CafeLit. He was off and running. Since then over 400 stories have appeared in online publications such as CafeLit and Spillwords, where he was voted Author of the Month for December 2019, and in print anthologies, such as the Best of CafeLit 8 and Nativity through Bridgehouse Publishing, and the Gleam, Portal and Glamour anthology through Clarendon House Publishing.
He also reads his stories for broadcast on Talking Stories Radio, and his own Jim’s Storytime.
Here are his publications:
Resilience, a collection of twenty-seven short stories, was published through Bridge House Publishing in February of 2021.
Periodic Stories, a collection of thirty-one stories, was published in March of 2021 by Impspired.
Periodic Stories Volume Two, a collection of twenty-six stories, was published in July 2021 by Impspired.
Short Stuff, a collection of thirty-two flash fiction and drabbles, was published July 2021, through Chapeltown Books.
Something Better, a dystopian adventure novella, was published in July 2021, by Dark Myth Publications.
Dreamers, a collection of thirty-six short stories was published in March 2022, by Clarendon House Publishing.
Periodic Stories Volume Three – A Novel was published in May 2022, by Impspired.
Haiku Seasons was published in September 2022, by Impspired.
The Alien of Orchard Lake is a full-length novel and was published in July 2022, by Dark Myth Publishing.
Periodic Stories Volume IV was published in January 2023, by Impspired
All of his publications are available on Amazon or through the respective publisher.
He continues to write every day from his home in the small town of Long Lake, Minnesota, and prefers to be published as Jim Bates. He is happy. He has achieved his dream.
Complete list of where his stories have appeared:
His stories and poems have appeared online in CafeLit, The Writers’ Cafe Magazine, Cabinet of Heed, Paragraph Planet, Nailpolish Stories, Ariel Chart, Potato Soup Journal, Literary Yard, Spillwords (Dec 2019, Author of the Month), The Drabble, The Academy of the Heart and Mind, World of Myth Magazine, The Horror Tree, The Terror House, Fox Hollow Stories and Bindweed Press. In print publications: A Million Ways, Mused Literary Journal, the Writers and Readers Magazine, Paper Djinn Press, Literally Stories, Fiction on the Web, Flora Fiction, Gleam Flash Fiction Anthology #2, the Portal Anthology, Glamour Anthology and Poetica #3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and the Galaxy Series 3,4,5, and 7 by Clarendon House Publishing, The Best of CafeLit 8, 9, 10 and 11 by Chapeltown Publishing, the Nativity Anthology and Mulling It Over Anthology by Bridge House Publishing, Forgotten One’s Drabble Anthology by Eerie River Publishing, Fenechty Anthologies, Gold Dust Magazine, Down In the Dirt Magazine, cc&d magazine, Mad Swirl, Piker Press, Pure Slush and the Oceans Anthology and the 20/20 Anthology by Black Hare Press. He was nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize by The Zodiac Review for his flash fiction story, “Aliens.” His story “The Maple Leaf ” was selected as Best Story of the Year for 2021 by Spillwords. Most recently, he was voted Spillwords Author of the Month for December 2022.
You can check out his Author Page on Amazon at:
theviewfromlonglake 