Well, personally, I kind of wanna slay the slug

[babarnett]

The slug put up a hell of a fight this week--which I now realize is sort of funny since that means the slug is working very hard at trying to get me to do nothing. But except for the exercise department, I actually achieved a fair amount of productivity this week:

Reading: I finished Prime Codex on Monday. The last story was "Radical Acceptance" by David W. Goldman, which made me smile. Space otters make me happy. There were a few stories in Prime Codex that didn't work for me, on the whole, it's a good collection that I'd recommend.

For my next book, I started James Maxey's Bitterwood (got through the prologue and chapter 1 this past week).  And in the audio book department, I'm up to chapter 18 in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I also thought I'd mention that I also read short stories in various places online, but I'm so scattershot about those that I decided I won't keep track of them on here unless one blows away me so much that I must share its awesomeness with all the world.

Exercise: I haven't done yoga or pilates in what feels like forever, and I only got on the elliptical strider two days this week. Beyond that, it was just pseudo-exercise in the form of Wii Sports and the 15-minute walk to and from the concert I was at for work last night.

Music: I had to miss chorus rehearsal Monday night to attend a grant award reception for work, but otherwise I was good about keeping up with practicing this week. I didn't get any in yesterday beccause of the concert I was working, but I'm making up for it today.

Writing Business: Two more stories came home, disappointed that their brilliance had not been recognized. One was a simultaneous sub, so he'll just continue waiting at the place that hasn't rejected him yet. The other one is waiting for the next market it wants to visit to re-open in April. And I think I may have to shoot out some queries on one or two stories to see if they're coming for dinner or staying over at their friend's house for a bit longer.

Writing: A little over 1,600 words on the zombie story this week, and I'm still not frickin' done. Close, though--I'm about halfway through the penultimate scene. Hopefully I'll be able to trim this one significantly during revisions, because right now it's at 8,200 words and counting.

I've got some more practicing to get in today since I'm doing a solo at church tomorrow morning. And I have to figure out what I feel like doing tomorrow afternoon to determine what I do after practicing today. I could go to my writer's group tomorrow, which means I have a 9,400 word story to critique. Or I could go the Mozart Requiem Sing-In the chorus I'm in is holding tomorrow, which means I don't have to crit that story and can get some more writing done instead. Decisions, decisions...

Comments

[marshall-payne.livejournal.com]

Cool on the progress! You're almost there. :-)

Sorry about the one's coming home. I had a couple come home as well, and for the life of me don't know where to send them.

[babarnett.livejournal.com]

It seems like so many markets are closed to submissions anymore that I've been having that don't-know-for-the-life-of-me-where-to-send-them feeling a lot myself.

[kannibal-kat.livejournal.com]

Bitterwood was good, but I actually enjoyed the next book in the series better. Maybe it's because I read Bitterwood right after Odyssey and my brain was still mushy-mush.

That zombie story is turning into a monster. Pun intended.

[babarnett.livejournal.com]

Not a pun!

I got a free copy of the second one at some point--TNEO, maybe?--so I have it ready and waiting if the first book makes me want to read on.

[justin-pilon.livejournal.com]

Whoa, that's going towards novelette length. Zombies are a hard sell, but I do love me a good zombie tale. I've been having a bunch of stories coming home with their tails tucked between their legs. I was pretty depressed a couple weeks ago. But I've put back on my alligator skin. Good luck with the conclusion!

[babarnett.livejournal.com]

Thank for the good luck. The dang thing is novelette length at this point, but I'm hoping I can get it 7500 or under in revision, though it's hard to tell since this first draft is such a mess.

And I'd like to think that I'm giving this one enough of a different take from the usual zombie tale that it'll sell somewhere, but I also know better than to get my hopes up.

[hildebabble.livejournal.com]

Yah, Dragonforge was TNEO swag.

[babarnett.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought.