Katherine Mankiller

*hardens heart*

The hurricane story is a short story, not a novel. Scenes that aren't about the sisters probably need to go.

*wibbles lower lip, throws some cut scenes into a separate file*

Highest word count: 11,000 words. Current word count: 6348 words. Ouch!

Edit, edit, edit.

I've been collapsing characters in the hurricane story. It's done some cool things to the minor characters that have been combined.

I still haven't tackled the plot stuff. I think I'm a little intimidated by it. I have a pretty good idea of how this story is broken, but the NaNovel has left me feeling a little edited out.

In other news, I'm still outlining.

Getting Things Done

I'm getting lots of things done today. I just don't have any new prose to show for it.

• Critiques!
• Edits on the hurricane story.
• I'm pondering the outline for the new improved Lizardfic.
  

The outlining in particular feels productive. I'm pretty sure that novel stalled because my outline sucked so much. The outline for the NaNovel was a lot better, and I still blew right through it one third of the way through, so clearly it also sucked in its own way.

We'll see how much better I can do this time.

Random Snippet

In lieu of actual other content, I bring you a bit of the hurricane story:

"Do your best to keep the network up," Mr. Libby said. "Banking is depending on you. And the rest of our city contracts, of course, but banking is more important than electricity or water. Everyone important will have evacuated, but if the banking servers are down for more than twelve hours the country will be ruined. Do it for the good old US of A."

"Yes, sir," they said, none of them with any enthusiasm.

Magdalena smiled and waved. "Ojalá que se te coman los coyotes."

"You're all good kids," Mr. Libby said. "If you survive, you'll still have jobs, unless you end up crippled or something. Except Anju, because she's a communist. Remind me to fire her when I get back. God bless you!" Then he shut the door and his transport took off.

At least this meant they had the rest of the day off.

Heh. Magdalena cracks me up.

International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day!

In honor of Jo Walton's International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, I give you Corporate Oversight. Enjoy!

(The nifty graphic is by John Scalzi.)

Opening lines meme.

Jen has a "post the first line of five works in progress" meme. What the hell, I'll play, although I don't really have five things in progress at the moment. I'll include recent stuff.

The Wasicu towers still exist, rising up out of the turf.

From "The Last Wasicu."

Yvonne looked up from her monitor, the beads in her cornrows clattering as Roger walked into her office.

From "In the Water."

"Magdalena!" Mr. Libby shouted.

This is from the hurricane story that's currently in the Critters queue.

They stopped for the night, off to the side of the canal in a clearing.

This is from the infamous lizardfic, which I need to get back to at some point. Maybe this summer, between Script Frenzy and NaNoWriMo. I'm trying to build up more short fiction, but that's no reason to ignore my neglected, whimpering novel. Hopefully NaNoWriMo will have broken me of rewriting the same first chapter over and over and over again. If not, maybe doing it again will.

Alan was rushing to class when he heard a voice call his name.

This is from the 2006 NaNovel. Revisions start tonight!

It's away!

I just dropped the hurricane story into the Critters queue. Word count: 10,946. It'll probably grow after Critters is done with it.

I also put a warning on the story for "content that may offend some readers and some *@(#&@% swearing." We'll see how upset people are by the names. ;)

To Poke, or Not to Poke.

The hurricane story is approaching a condition where it's ready for Critters. It may be ready now, but Brian said he'd peek at it and tell me what he thought of the changes.

It behooves me to dawdle, because it'll take about a month to get through the queue, and next month is NaNoEdMo. Getting a slew of critiques for one project while working on another is distracting. On the other hand, the puppy is 10,859 words, so it's likely that I'll get a trickle rather than a slew of critiques, but they'll still be distracting. Especially since I'm expecting at least one, "Burn in hell/Move back to Russia, you commie!" critique for this story. So maybe I should just sit on it for another week.

In other news, the flash continues to get no love. Maybe I should nag. Or start emailing people.

Flash fic update, and history.

My online critique group is oddly silent about my under 500 word flash fic. Perhaps they're struck dumb by its brilliance. Or its badness. Heh.

For NaNoWriMo this year, I'm considering going Greek. I have an idea I've been kicking around for years--2001 at least, but the basic idea came from my classical literature class in 1988 or so, from feminist interpretations of the Iliad and Oresteion. The interesting thing is that "The Last Wasicu" is also strongly rooted in history, and I also have another idea based on Roman religion that I'm kicking around. It seems to be a trend, in other words. Hmm.

Huh.

I think I just wrote 423 words of flash fic. That would certainly make up for the 10,231 word story (and still growing) I did last month.

Speaking of the hurricane story, I don't think it's ready for critique yet. There are still a couple of things I need to add to it. No sense in throwing it to the critiquers with known problems I know how to fix.

The Year of Getting Serious

My Hollywood Creative Directory is on its way. I received one of my two first script queries back in the mail as undeliverable. D'oh! Short fiction markets are all over the Internet, but this is not the case for the places I want to send scripts. (The online version of the Hollywood Creative Directory is $250 a year. Ulp. Maybe if I start selling or win the lottery.)

I'm running a little behind on the short story a month plan, but not badly. I still think I can crank out nine this year if I try. (No short stories during NaNoWriMo, NaNoEdMo, or Script Frenzy.) I may write a play instead of a short story one month, or for Script Frenzy. Or not, but it's an idea I've been vaguely contemplating for awhile. I just think it would be fun. I've improved the script reporting in my submissions tracker. I'm also not sure how I'm fitting Lizardfic into that plan, but I really need some short fiction. I don't have enough in circulation.

After NaNoEdMo comes Critters for the NaNoWriMo novel, unless I decide I hate it. ;) If I don't hate it, I'll have to do something with it. I've updated my submissions tracker to handle novel queries and submissions. (Fear me! my Geek-Fu is powerful.)

First draft done on hurricane story.

The first draft clocks in at 10,113 words, and it's likely to expand in revision. For one thing, I think the end is a little abrupt (in fact, I may not be done after all), and for another, I don't think there's enough tech, and there are characters who disappear in the middle of the story. I do have the basic plot stuff done, though.

I'm getting critiques for "The Last Wasicu," so maybe I should set the hurricane story aside until I finish the revisions for "Last Wasicu." I'm already a little distracted as it is.

One story a month is going to be tough if I insist on doing stories that are over 10,000 words long. Maybe I should try to do something shorter for February. Having said that, I've probably cursed myself to write a tome.

I had a rough week at work. That didn't help, either.

Or, maybe what I need is a lack of distractions.

1533 words written today, for a total of 4582. That's almost NaNoWriMo productive.

Note to self: Distraction=Evil.

No, it's definitely stalled.

I'm not sure what's up with the story, but it's at 3049 words and just doesn't want to move at all. Maybe this is the equivalent of the NaNoWriMo week two, and I should try to plow forward. Maybe I should set an arbitrary wordcount and do it even if those words suck. Maybe I should try to skip to a more exciting part and fill in the other stuff later. Hmmm.

I think it's a novella or novelette, by the way.

I see why this story has been lying around my hard drive for a year. Clearly, I need to get out and push somehow.

200 words, yay! or something.

Last night, I added 200 words to a story I hadn't touched in over a year. I really like the story, so I hope this means I'm going to finish it now. Of course, I'm also wibbling that I think you can tell where the join is, blah blah, but I should just cut that out. I mean, it's 200 words, and that's what rewrites are for.

This is an idea I had at Dragoncon 2005, by the way. I get a lot of ideas at Dragoncon. I'm not sure why, but there's something about sitting in a panel talking about writing that causes me to get five or six totally unrelated story ideas. Maybe it's just the writerly atmosphere or something.

New Year's Resolutions

Yes, it's the obligatory New Year's resolutions post! I'm sure you can hardly wash. Yay!

• Write more. I did poorly with the short story deadlines, but maybe they were too short. One short story a month, excepting March, June, and November, which I'm going to set aside for other writing.
• NaNoEdMo. It looks like the site is dead, Jim. That doesn't mean I can't set aside March for editing my NaNoWriMo novel.
• Script Frenzy! Rather than try to write a script for the Austin Film Festival, I'll do NaNoWriMo's new screenwriting challenge. That'll give me time to edit properly. I mean, I sent Double Feature off to Austin while it was still lying around the Critters queue. That's no good.
• NaNoWriMo. I probably want to do that again next year.
• I also want to finish Lizardfic and Hurricane Maria.

In other news, I just tossed a story into the Critters queue. A sample:

The Wasicu cities still exist, rising up out of the turf. When the buffalo herds run across the plain, the towers shake and glass falls out of them.

Kicking Horse walks between the towers. He knows that under the soft, tall grass lie the bones of Wasicu. He's not afraid of ghosts--helpful ancestors teach the children to hunt and fish, gather herbs, speak their own language--but the evil dead are another thing. Some of these Wasicu were women and children, but some of them were bad men. He wouldn't come at all if he weren't looking for Snow Deer.

Oh, yeah. And continue to shrink. (35 pounds so far; go me!)

Year in Review

Short stories completed: 1
Scripts completed: 1
Novel first drafts completed: 1
Short stories that somehow morphed into novels-in-progess: 2
Short stories that were pulled from circulation and completely rewritten: 1
Short story submissions: 32
Short story rejections: 28
Short story sales: 1
Short stories in circulation: 3

Lo, I am dissatisfied.

Vote for your favorite!

Apparently you can vote for your favorite stories and poems over on The Fifth Di.... I wouldn't be sad if your favorite was me Me mE MEmemEMeMEME meeeeeeeeeeeeee! Just don't stuff the ballot box or anything.

"Corporate Oversight" available at The Fifth Di...

My story, "Corporate Oversight," is now available at The Fifth Di.... Woohoo!

Wow.

The story I'm working on now? It feels so much like science fiction to write, but I'm pretty sure it reads as fantasy.

It's an alternate history story where something supernatural happens, and I can't get over how much it feels like science fiction to write despite all the supernatural stuff. It's the way I'm trying to make the story conform to history, I suspect. "How should I handle this? I know, I'll look it up!"

I'm really, really enjoying this story.

Question answered.

I wrote 818 words of the story that needed research tonight, and in my opinion, it's fantasy. My brain suddenly gave me a main character and started spitting out words. There's even a plot, which surprised me because I wasn't sure what it was until I sat down to write it. I love when that happens.

I'm pretty sure people will figure out the cultural references. I'm not so sure about the historical references. We'll see.

This is my pre-NaNoWriMo treat.

Research!

Inspiration just struck for an alternate history story which will require research. Two items in my random idea file collided. Mmm, research! Good idea file. Extra biscuit!

I'm really excited by this idea, but, once again, it's a situation without a plot. That happens to me a lot; I get a situation, or a character, or even characters in a situation, but there's no plot. Here, Plot!

Here's my sleepy question: Is it fantasy because of spoiler, or is it science fiction because it's alternate history?

P.S. Oh my darling Critters! I missed you so much!

Hmmmmmmm.

Should I send the story formerly known as "Median Effective Dose" through Critters again?

On the one hand, fresh tasty brains eyeballs. On the other hand, third time through the queue, and it'll be at least a month.

I'm not quite done yet, so I suppose I don't have to decide now. Maybe I should drop it back into the Critters queue when I go blind from staring at it again.

Version control, don't fail me now!

Somehow, the story I sent Ann Crispin was missing a line I thought was in there. No wonder she didn't notice it. ;) It must be part of the conversion from Open Office format to rich text format. Note to self: Do not maintain too many versions of a story in too many formats. When sending it out, I need rich text and plain text. That's it. More versions means more chances to screw up.

D'oh!

Oh, sweet validation!

Ann Crispin recommended The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman for her writer's workshop. The chapter on subtlety was sweet, sweet validation.

Yeah, sure, I've been known to overdo it on occasion. I'd rather understate than write the scene where Character A looks into the mirror, twirls his mustache, and gloats to himself, and then the rest of the story is Character B's POV.

The trick, I think, is to incorporate Beth's advice--the Hitchcock quote that suspense is always better than mystery. That's not the same thing as spelling everything out; I think the point has more impact if the readers figure it out by themselves.

Note to Self:

It's fine to have a programmer's aesthetic when writing fiction. Just make sure you declare your variables and functions up at the top. ;)

Things I need to do this weekend.

Things I need to do this weekend:

• Work on script.
• Critters critique.
• Work on script some more.
• Buy groceries.
• Pay bills.
• Register for Dragoncon and Ann Crispin writing workshop.
• Work on script even more.
• Mow lawn.

Thing I might do for fun this weekend:

• Buy yarn for Navajo Loom.

Progress

I'm doing revisions on Lizardfic right now.

Back in November, I posted that I thought the universe in this story was underdeveloped. Well, I'm starting to really feel like that's no longer the case. I'm starting to feel like there could be a theme anthology in the Lizardfic universe. Which, you know, is different from anyone wanting to do such a thing, of course.

I could be wrong, of course. We'll see what the next batch of critiquers have to say. As soon as I finish these revisions.

*yawn*

I'm so tired I keep opening the word document with my story in it, staring at it, and closing it again. I think maybe I should just go with it and go to bed early. After all, I was sick last week, and maybe Daylight Savings Time wasn't the best time to give up caffeine. Although I think the flat on my back for a week is a bigger issue than the lack of caffeine. Urgh.

*throws confetti*

I just finished the first draft of Lizardfic. Hooray!

It's hard SF (biology). I have no idea if Analog wants it. They might.

I still need to flesh out the protagonist's emotional arc and the like, but the first draft is done. It was like grinding out concrete, so I'm relieved. And pleased, although I think I need to relax and take a few days away from it--maybe work on the script--before any attempt to revise further.

Were it not for things like the evil of DST, I'd have a celebratory beer. *shakes fist at DST*

Aha!

I think I've got it!

I've been slogging painfully through Lizardfic--it has a lot of world-building, and it's all very complicated and I've been trying to work it in smoothly--and I just realized that...

My protagonist isn't very emotional. And she probably should be, considering.

I think if I go back and work that in, it'll be easier to finish.

Need an outline, STAT!

I wrote as far as I had in my script, which was basically setting up the premise. Page 13 is a good page to introduce the villains, right?

Need an outline, STAT!

On the other hand, I'm hearing character voices quip, which is a good sign, script-wise. And the script is amusing me, which is a good sign for it amusing others.

I also made some progress on the former cliché story, which is currently codenamed Lizardfic. I think I've worked my way around the block, which is a good thing because there's somewhere I want to send it on April 15.

Be your own enabler!

Hi, my name is Katherine, and I'm a self-censor.

("Hi, Katherine!")

It really slows me down, because I get bogged down in resisting what happens in a story.

The first draft is not the time to decide whether something is kitsch, or too unpleasant, or whatever. Decide whether it's kitsch in rewrites. Be your own enabler.

Getting back on the [insert mythological animal here].

I had two stories in progress when my cat got sick in December, and I hadn't touched either of them since until today.

Well, I just worked on one a little, and I really like it. It's also 2700 words so far and I don't think it's even half-finished, although I could be wrong. I'm very bad at estimating first draft lengths. Partly because I have the basic story beats so far, but not an outline or anything.

Yeah, I'm one of those weirdos who writes to find out what happens next. ;)

This one is surprising me; it's coming out pointed. And there's a lot of religion in this one. Not so much conventional, organized religion, although there's some of that, too. More... what people value.

I suspect that the former cliché story stalled because I was resisting the romance that might occur. And also, yes, it needs more conflict. I don't think that one is completely ripe, although I think I've figured it out a little better.

I kind of wish they'd all come out in a big rush like the Just Not Right story, though. Speaking of which, well... *looks at submission tracker, raises eyebrow*

New story in circulation.

I've finally come up with a title that I don't hate with the fiery hate of a thousand suns for the Just Not Right story, so it will be hitting the mailbox tonight. Woohoo!

Critters!

My "just not right" story is up at Critters and has already received three critiques. Unsurprisingly, the critiques suggest that I've again fallen prey to my most common uncritiqued story problem. I try not to spoon feed readers and let them figure things out on their own rather than just coming out and saying, "Look, it's a conspiracy, okay?" but sometimes I go too far in the other direction.

In short, they're not getting things. OTOH, I'm getting a great map to the unclear parts of my story. LOL.

Sadly, Brian gets it. He always gets it. Otherwise, this would always be his task. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cliché story epiphany!

I just realized this morning why the (former) cliché (challenge) story is moving so slowly: that universe is underdeveloped. The SO mentioned Eric Flint and his 1632 anthologies, and somehow that made me realize that no one could write a story in the (former) cliché story universe, because there's just not enough to it yet. My lead characters have been dropping hints about how things work now, and used to work before, but it's still too vague.

It's a story about aliens. That probably makes things harder. Hmmm.

Hmmmmm.

I was talking to the SO in the car this morning on the way to work about our respective writing projects. He thinks that the problem I'm having with the story formerly for the cliché challenge is that it's not a short story, it's a novel.

It's definitely a long one, that's for sure. Oh, not at the moment. At the moment it's over-compressed, and needs unpacking. But when I put in all the stuff that needs to go in, it'll be a long one.

As opposed to the other story I have lying around, which is a shorty. And I still have a novel idea percolating--again, I have characters and a milieu and a situation, but not a plot per se.

I was going to try to power through the former cliché story this weekend come hell or high water, but maybe I should finish the short one instead. Or maybe I should unpack and reevaluate. Yeah.

In other news, I'm reconsidering the running thing again. Yes, yes, I know. But I want to. I'm going to try something I read online--walk 10 minutes for a warm up, 15 minutes of walk, run, or both as I feel like it, 5 minutes of walk for a cool down. My cardiovascular system really feels like it can take whatever I dish out to it on the treadmill, but my legs can't. Maybe the stretching/weightlifting/"whatever I feel like" plan will make my legs cooperate more.

Also, the SO's next project sounds cool. I smell movie rights. ;)

Alas, alack, and woe.

I don't think I'm going to finish the cliché story in time to send it to Scalzi. I'm barfy, and the story isn't finished. At this point, the story lacks conflict, and it just kind of stops rather than ends. I think it's salvageable, just not by tomorrow.

The business trip gave me an idea that I think is flash. It would qualify for the cliché challenge if it was SF, but it's fantasy. But I must commemorate that dire discussion this way so I didn't waste half an hour of my life before I walked out. That, and it's stuck in my head.

*gives latest story the hairy eyeball*

The first story in the one story a week plan is done, and let me tell you, it's just not right. ;)

Alas, no, it is not the cliché story. I thought I would have more luck with that one next week, while I'm out of town and bored. I've never actually written aliens before, and thought it would take more time then I had this week. No, this week I wrote another nightmare, only it popped out as 2100 words in three days. If my subconscious feels compelled to taunt me with this sort of thing, clearly I need to recycle.

Operation Workout also proceeds apace. W00t!

Lo, I should be in bed.

Sallya is live on Alien Skin

The illustration is terribly cute. Go, look!

Cliché story

I started a second story for Scalzi's cliché challenge. I'm a lot more enthusiastic about this one, since I get to write aliens, woohoo! Of course, the fact that I have characters and a milieu and a general situation does not mean that I have a plot. Oy. But it's fun. That's what matters, right?

I actually found myself wondering if it was enough of a cliché. Then I thought about that for a minute and completely cracked up. Rest assured, it is an idea well-mined in media SF (and inspired by a science article I read last year, which is why I didn't make the connection).

*gibber*

I'm trying to exercise more, mainly so I feel like less of a slug. Lots of people (Orson Scott Card, etc.) recommend exercise for authors on the grounds that it's hard to force lively prose out of a sluggish, tired body, and it's true. I may have to buy a copy of The Athlete's Diary on the grounds that obsessive record-keeping inspires me to greater effort. (You should see the Motivational Spreadsheet of Doom I wrote for the SO and my friend Milly.) Right now it's a pathetic ten minutes on the exercise bike a day; I hope to gradually bump that up to forty-five minutes, followed by weights.

Um, yeah. I mentioned running here ages ago. That didn't work out; my knee started calling me names. Alas.

I have several ideas from Dragoncon--I mostly went to writer's panels this year. One of them is an odd kind of cyberpunk, and I have no idea if it's going to be a short story or a novel. (Meep! although that would give me an opportunity to use the Motivational Spreadsheet of Doom.) It could get long. Which I suppose is good, either way. I have notes, and will let it percolate. I also contemplated the other novel idea I had lying around my hard drive and made more notes.

I still want to write something for Scalzi's cliché challenge. I started a draft of something, but... eh. I'll go reread in a day or so and see what I think--right now I think I would reread and say "Eh."

I like the Sidekick, but I had to rewrite the php browser detection routine to get this site to work with it. Interestingly, the browser string says it is ProxiWeb/AvantGo. I used to use ProxiWeb on Palm, back before AvantGo bought them. And I haven't seen whether they support J2ME yet; I keep seeing things that suggest that they will next month. I want Azure!

New story in circulation, and badness...

Thanks to the comments of Jen, Margo, and Lisa, the nightmare story is now in circulation under the name "Book of Shadows." W00t!

I went to go record the information on my Treo--yes, yes, I track these things in mysql and php--and lo, my poor Treo gave its life in the recording of my data and died. It was a 180 that I got off ebay 18 months ago, and was old then. Well. It just so happened that my SO had given me a chunk of back rent recently, so I...

...spent part of it on a Sidekick. Oh, baby! It doesn't have internet yet--they said to give it 24-48 hours--but I'm still in nerd heaven! *cue soft violins*

Go ahead. Call me a geek. I can take it. In fact, to record what a dweeb I am, I created a shiny new category to record my amazing feats of dorkosity.

Alas, noble Treo! Your tragic sacrifice was not in vain!

Wow.

Based on the latest crit for the nightmare story, the way my system of magic works was completely unclear. Every single question my reader had was about how the magic worked. And here I was worried that I was being all sledgehammery! Apparently, I needn't have worried. Snort.

In other news, no love from the Austin Film Festival. Feh.

Nightmare story updated yet again...

I made even more changes to the nightmare story, but no one's seen them yet. The S.O. was working on his own novel, damn him! *shakes fist* That, and I'm a little too worried about Hurricane Katrina smacking New Orleans to worry about whether my changes to a short story are any good.

Speaking of Katrina, we should be getting leftovers at some point; mostly a bunch of rain. Nothing compared to what they're getting, of course, and it's not like we're under an Inland Tropical Storm warning like Tennessee.

Tennessee. I ask you.

Should we lose power, I'll take the opportunity to write in peace and quiet and darkness until my laptop battery runs out. Woo!

I downloaded a metric ton of stuff from Escape Pod to listen to in the car. Mostly Tim Pratt and Greg van Eekhout, since I've enjoyed other stories of theirs. (I already downloaded Jen's story ages ago.)

Friends, Romans, Countrymen!

John Scalzi is looking for SF clichés. Oh, be still my beating heart! I can't help it, I still love spaceflight and Amazon women on the moon; I suspect anyone who read SF of a certain period at a certain age or younger can say the same. Heh.

*ponders story ideas*

Yikes. Juvenilia.

I was unpacking a box and discovered a piece of my own juvenilia. I was probably about 17 when I wrote that tale of a pompous unreliable narrator on an unsuccessful diplomatic mission. The characterization was what you'd expect from a teenager, the gender politics were interesting, and the pseudo-Egypt setting is the suck.

It might be interesting to rewrite this one after I finish the edits on the nightmare story. Hmm.

Fitting it all in.

Jen had some suggestions for the nightmare story that I think are really good, but I've been busy at work so I'm having trouble convincing myself to do the rewrite/edit. I feel guilty about that, but not guilty enough to actually write. Which may mean that I have to let it go. I'll do the rewrite when I feel like I can.

Some days I don't see how anyone has time to write.

Either way, guilt doesn't seem to be much of a motivator for me. I think I need to spend more time on rest and renewal. And maybe exercise some, so I feel less like a slug.

first draft-o-rama

I finished the first draft of the nightmare story, and I really think I'm on to something. And so does the SO, one small quibble aside. I need to edit, obviously, and editing can wait until tomorrow. But I am pleased. Very pleased.

I'm not sure if I need to expand, but I suspect that the answer is no, I do not. I just need to address the SO's quibble.

I finally decided that what the story needed was a complete lack of wussing on my part. That combined with two beers (ha!) and the story just popped right out.

I really feel like I've got something here.

Yes, it's been awhile...

You noticed that, too? ;)

When I moved, I sent change of address forms to everywhere I had stories. (You know, back in September.) Well, around New Year's, one of them said they might have lost my story, and have not written back to confirm this. Judging by their turnaround listing on the Black Holes site, I probably wouldn't be worried if they hadn't said that they might have lost it. Sigh.

I just sent a query email to another market as well, after hearing from a friend that they'd had some problems.

There's another story, ripening on my hard drive as we speak; the nightmare story of which I spoke. It's already morphed considerably beyond the original idea. Which I suspect is probably a good thing. I may need to take a peek at it later and see what it has to say for itself.

More rejectomancy...

Alas, JJA says I didn't "grab" his interest. Woe. Alas, alack, and woe. I took this as a sign to reshuffle the scenes so the opening scene was the one with the blood.

Why, yes, I do feel a bit silly editing my story after getting what is basically a form rejection. But I believe "didn't grab" is a step below "didn't hold," which is in turn a step below "didn't work for me."

I need help. And perhaps more blood. ;) Oy.

Wow.

I decided that my enthusiasm for in medias res had led me to start this story too late. There was a large amount of narrative summary/exposition that I thought might work better as scenes.

1400 words later... Yeah. And there's a lot more narrative summary in this story that can go the way of "shown don't tell."

Sigh.

I'm trying to be all positive and stuff here about the writing process. Okay, no, I'm trying to be all positive in life about the selling fiction process.

Anyway.

I'm finding really long turnarounds to be much more discouraging than quick nos. However, I'm at the stage in these two stories' submission paths that they are at pro markets with long turnarounds prior to going to the semipros, so...

145 days. 70 days.

Clearly, what I need to do about it is finish the next one and send it out so I'm paying attention to it and not turnarounds on the other two.

No.

Clearly, what I need to do is focus on the writing and be all Zen and extinguish appetite for zippy turnaround. Which should lead to finishing the next one.

How did Thanksgiving get to be next week?

No, really. I want to know!

My mother is coming into town next week. She wants to help me unpack boxes. [Insert imaginary superbeing here] knows that I need the help desperately, but I hope she wants to do fun things, too. Partly because I want to do fun things. Fun things! Give me fun things! Fun things or death!

*ahem*

Also, someday, I will have time again and will finish the stories I have in progress and start new ones. I think they're both very promising, especially "Grandfather Paradox." I think the main thing it's missing right now are specifics and an ending, although I think I know how it's going to end. It could still surprise me, though. (I hope so!)

Is it wrong?

Is it wrong to be slightly envious of my fiction for being better travelled than me?

I've never been sad about a story going to New Jersey instead of me, but I'm about to send a story to England. I've been to England, but it was in the late 1970s and I was a preteen. My main memories are that it was August and it was so overcast that it looked like pretty much the same amount of light the entire three days I was there, and I also have a copy of The Magician's Nephew that I purchased from a newstand despite being utterly clueless about English money.

I'd kind of like to stuff myself into an envelope and mail myself to England right now.

Break it! Break it!

So, Grandfather Paradox is currently at 1500 words. I think this is a bit short, and I think it's short because I'm not breaking things enough. Things need to be broken in order to have things to fix during the course of the story. So, clearly I need to break more things and be meaner to my poor characters. Which is strange, because in light of spoiler I think I'm being plenty mean to them already! but they're succeeding at things too easily and must be vexed, circumvented, and otherwise treated meanly.

*wracks brain for cruel and unusual things to do to my story*

You know what helps when I'm stuck?

Analyzing structure.

It's not something that tends to occur to me often. I'm more of a sleep-on-it, wake-up-drooling-into-my-pillow-with-the-answer kind of writer. There's a part of my brain that I seem to access most easily if I'm not completely conscious that seems to understand story better than I do. But when it gets stumped, it's time to sit around and ask dumb questions about protagonist and antagonist and beginning/middle/end. You know, bring in the analytic brain when the crazed weasel approach to plotting fails. Sometimes I'm writing to see what happens, and it's often not what I expected when I started the first draft.

And I should be writing.

short fiction paradox

One of my stories in progress has just gone in a totally unexpected direction. Which is when the good stuff happens, in my opinion. I wouldn't go so far as to say that there's no point in writing if I know how the story is going to end, but a large part of the pleasure for me is figuring out what's happening and why the characters are doing what they're doing. Of course, now I don't know what happens next! What I had planned for next was kind of puzzle-boxy, if you know what I mean: clever and perhaps a bit too pat. I'm not sure that fits any more. Hopefully, whatever happens next will be better than what I had planned. That's often how it works out, odd as that may sound.

I took one of those silly online quiz things and it informed me that my writing style was "mystic," which fits. I figure out a lot of plot points in that hypnagogic state between sleeping and waking.

I've been feeling guilty about the amount of writing I've been doing lately (or, to be more accurate, the lack of same). It's the moving thing; I'm completely frazzled. I'm trailing off in mid-sentence when trying to talk to people at work and such. I have stuff in circulation, but I don't think anything is due back. *peeks* Nope. But it would be nice to have something new to go out. I'd hate for JJA to forget about me. ;)

In a complete non-sequitur, the Geek Dinner thing Bill mentioned looks fun! I suspect it would be more fun with Bill and Cynthia, though.

Hmmm...

Rereading through "Grandfather Paradox," I think the timeline needs a bit of a twist. I think it's a bit too linear for this particular tale. And I still think it's an Analog story, although that's really Dr. Schmidt's call and not mine, and the only test that matters.

It's also in much better shape than "Book of Shadows" (which is the working title of the nightmare story). So "Grandfather Paradox" definitely needs to be worked on first.

You know, nothing really improves a misbehaving story like ripening over time.

Sallya is safely in New Jersey

I was out at the ROF slush page, and was very pleased to see Sallya. Yay! I've been trying not to go and stare until my head explodes, but it's very reassuring to think that Sallya is really there, and in Carina's hot little hands.

There are currently 6 stories out of 42 that are being held for further consideration. One of those could be Sallya. Again, I need to try not to obsess, but... there could be a yay there. :)

Sallya has been away from home for 58 days so far. Go, Sallya, go!

I know I said this before, but...

...I think this story is an Analog story. Yes, I know I said that about "Corporate Oversight" and Dr. Schmidt proved me wrong, but this time I really mean it.

Not the nightmare story. "Grandfather Paradox."

The nightmare story is not loving me at the moment. I'm making it stand with it's nose in the corner working on something else. This is why I like having multiple things in progress, you know.

In other news, my special Wiscon tarot-reading-induced resolution is to try not to obsess over submissions. So no staring at the submissions tracker until my eyes cross. No, when I get the urge, the preferred fidget is to go write something. So there!