Writerly Wackiness

It occurs to me that I may be entirely too obsessive.  It's a good trait to have when your day job involves a constant stream of deadlines for grant proposals and reports and people wanting to know when you're going to hear back on the proposal you only just sent five seconds ago.  But as a writer tossing short stories out into Submission Land…[Poll #1653193]

1. Gaaaaaah!  That sums up recent weeks for me and explains my scattered internet presence as of late.

2. As a dreadfully slow reader, I cower when faced with a book large enough to bludgeon someone to death with.  So when I recently saw a book review on Amazon that began by expressing disappointment at the sheer size of the novel, I thought I had found a kindred spirit--until it turned out that their disappointment stemmed from 400 pages being far too short for their tastes.

3. I forget what got me thinking about this the other day, but it's fascinating how sometimes, because of cliches and expectations, the change of one minor detail in what is otherwise the same exact story can garner totally different reactions.  One story of mine originally included a drug-induced dream sequence with a talking cat.  After two rejections bemoaned it as being yet another talking cat story, I changed the cat to a pug.  I believe I quite literally did a find-and-replace of "cat" for "pug" in the document.  Next rejection? "The talking pug was great."

4. Story passed up the editorial food chain at Realms of Fantasy.  *squees while crossing fingers*

5.  *Looks at pile of critiques that need to be done* Gaaaaah!

So, last week?  It sucked a lot.  No writing time over the weekend?  Also sucked.  And rain and wind strong enough to knock over a big-ass pine tree and street light in the neighborhood when you're trying to move large pieces of furniture?  Yeah, that sucks too.

The Writerly Update
Close to 600 words into what is now chapter 12.  More revision wordage would have been nice, but considering the aforementioned suck, I’m amazed I got that much.

The Readerly Update
I’ve been reading On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman, which has some really fascinating (and sometimes disturbing) stuff in it.  I put it on my “to read” list after j_cheney had posted about it some time back.  It sounded like it’d be a good resource for a short story I’ve been planning to rewrite, and it’s delivering on that front.  What I didn’t realize was how useful it’d be for my novel rewrite as well.

Submission Land
I don’t think I’ve ever had this many submissions out at the 100-day+ mark all at one time before.  Luckily, working on the novel rewrite instead of a short stories at present has me obsessing over this less than I normally would.

Random Literary/Theatrical Musings
I saw a production of Romeo & Juliet Thursday night.  It’s been a while since I’ve read it or seen it performed, and the production made me realize why, unlike a lot of other Shakespeare, I don’t love this play.  Two things in particular: 1) The supporting characters are far more interesting than the protagonists.  I spend most of the play wanting to slap them.  2) After Romeo and Juliet have bit it and brought their angsty histrionics to an end, we have this moment where the friar stands there in the tomb telling the other characters everything we just saw happen.  "As You Know, Audience..."

Normally, I hate snow unless I'm on skis.  And since I haven't been skiing in years, that means I haven't liked snow in years.

Yet I have to give a small amount of thanks to this past weekend's Snowpocalypse.  I didn't enjoy the shoveling and the resulting achy back, and I'll be cranky until this stuff melts, but because I was snowed out of the weekend's scheduled activities, a beautiful thing occurred: I sat there with my computer on my lap for several hours and put in some quality writing time.  Saturday I finished a requested short story rewrite and shipped it off.   Sunday I got in some work on the novel, and as a result:


Chapter 8 is almost done and will be much shorter than its original bloated self. I haven't had that much writing time on my hands in a while, and it was great.

On the Submission Land front, you know what's getting really frustrating?  Having fantasy stories rejected by some markets for being too traditional while others reject them for not being traditional enough.  Too little sword in my sorcery here, too much sword in my sorcery there.  Do I really drive down the middle of the road that consistently with my fantasy?  Because that's depressing.

After a nice and relaxing week down the shore, I'm back home and emerging from my vacation-induced LJ hiatus.  I'm not even going to try to catch up with flist posts, so my apologies if I've missed anything terribly exciting.

Reading Update
Finished Writers of the Future XXIV. Now that I've read the whole thing, my favorite stories from my last reading update still remain among my favorites and are now joined by "Cruciger" by Erin Cashier (therinth ).  There were a few pieces that left me disappointed by the ending or with a general feeling of "meh" toward the story as a whole, but overall, I enjoyed far more of the stories than not, so that made the book worth the read.

Submission Land
Seeing "I am sure another editor will snap this up" in rejections should be encouraging, but for me it has become the Mark of Doom.  Or at least the Mark of Don't Hold Your Breath Because You Will Not Be Selling This Any Time Soon.  One story of mine is currently sitting in its eighteenth slush pile two years after receiving a comment like that while another is in its seventeenth slush pile three and a half years later.  And I never did find an agent way back when despite that lovely handwritten note on one rejection that included a similar Mark of Doom (though that may be a good thing in retrospect given the massive overhaul that novel is getting).  So now that I've recently received not one but two Marks of Doom on a flash story, it's time to come up with a really long list of potential markets for it, 'cause it's gonna be a while. 

This is why I've come to prefer "I hope this one finds a good home soon."  As well-meaning as it is, whenever an editor is "sure" or "certain" of my story's good luck, my instinct now is to crawl into a corner and cry.

Other Writerly Updates
I've added "To Worship Death" (from issue 4 of Fictitious Force) to my stories available for purchase at AnthologyBuilder.

The other day I got the proofs for my story in Shimmer's Clockwork Jungle Book issue, which now looks like it should be coming out in early September.  Looking forward to seeing my little lemur on a dirigible in print!

Cuteness
One of my favorite parts of my yearly shore trip is the Stone Harbor Craft Fair.  This year, I found this little guy (from Cutesy but not Cutesy), whom I have dubbed Unifish:

This week has been strong with the bat-shit crazy side of the Force, making that whole productivity thing a challenge. Some of the things keeping me busy were good things (Easter with the in-laws, seeing a production of Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo, a reception where my dad got a firefighter-of-the-year award from the local VFW).  But other things...well, I think my brain exploded a few times.

Now onto what I actually managed to accomplish amid the crazy:

Reading: I'm partway through chapter 10 in Bitterwood.  As for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, I gave up. I reached my library renewal limit on it and was just going to copy the remaining discs onto my computer last night, but then I realized that I still had 12 discs left. It's an entertaining book, but it's not that entertaining. So I took that long-winded puppy back to the library today and checked out the audio version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.  Only six discs total.  Ah, blessed brevity.

Exercise: Fell off the wagon Tuesday and Wednesday thanks to the crazy, but stuck to it the rest of the week.

Music: The usual rehearsal schedule, but fitting in practice time on the piano proved tough. I was all stressed out at my Wednesday lesson as a result, which didn't help.

Writing Business: Bored with the rejections-a-plenty/several-months-long-dry-spell-when-it-comes-to-sales combo now. I'm feeling particularly disheartened with one story. It's a flash story I wrote a while back, and while not brilliant, I think it's a good little piece. When I first wrote it, a fellow writerly type thought very highly of it and said, "If Strange Horizons doesn't take this, I don't know what they'll take."  Well, they didn't take it, and neither have the 27 other markets I've sent it to. I've never had a story get shot down that many times, and it's depressing, especially since it came close at a few places, which gives me confidence that the story doesn't suck. Unfortunately, I'm almost out of decent markets for it.

Writing: I spent much of last weekend figuring out what I needed to move, add, axe, and rewrite in chapter 4 of My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel, which was fun and exciting and I couldn't wait to start writing.  Then, Sunday night, I sat down to write, and nothing. I spent an insane amount of time rewriting the opening sentence. I didn't get back to the chapter again until Wednesday, when I finally managed to push past that block. But because I had so little time for writing this week, I'm only about 500 words into the chapter. Blah.

On that note, it's onto the weekend for me.  I'm going to get in some more work on the novel tonight.  Tomorrow AsYouKnowBob and I will be driving down to Washington DC--the chorus we're in is singing at the National Gallery, and afterward we'll be making a Maryland pit stop to have dinner with some of my friends from college. Sunday will be singing at church in the morning, writing group in the afternoon. And if I'm not too exhausted, I might squeeze in some more writing before Monday rears its ugly head.

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...

The slug reared its ugly head again a few times this week, particularly toward the end of the week. So I didn't get as much writing done as I should have, but some level of productivity was still achieved.

Reading: Read three more stories in Prime Codex: "Sister of the Hedge" by Jim C. Hines (this is one of those stories that I'm going to have to read again in the future to decide what I really think of it, but the fascinating intersection of Sleeping Beauty and Christianity kept me hooked), "Rampion" by Mary Robinette Kowel (short but sweet), and "Salt of Judas" by my Odyssey classmate ericjamesstone (the premise of a magical deal with a devil-like character gave the story a slightly familiar feel, but it was well written and enjoyable, which isn't surprising since I've yet to meet a story of Eric's that I didn't like)

Exercise: My knee's feeling a lot better, so I spent this week gradually easing back to my normal exercise level. Well, except for Thursday, when I slacked.  Stupid slug.

Music Stuff: The usual week full of rehearsals, piano lesson, and lots of practicing, particularly for a recital-type program I'm performing in tomorrow.

Writing: Close to a 1,000 more words on the zombie story this week. Not as much as I would have liked, which is my fault since I didn't spend as much time writing as I could have, but when I did write, I was at least cranking out more words than I had previously been doing. I have the feeling this story may end up being one of my longer ones.  It's definitely going to live up to the "crappy first draft" moniker.  But for me, fixing what's already down is the easier part of the process, so that's ok.

Writing Business: I spent far too much time prognostojectioning this week, particularly when I saw a bunch of response times reported for a horror market I'd love to crack. Here's hoping I haven't heard anything yet because the story's being seriously considered and not because things were lost in the Great Postal Submission Abyss.

Slowly but surely, the productivity groove is being re-established. I feel like I have a much better grip on the new job now, and today I got my first grant proposal for them out the door, so yay. Another week or two, and life may start feeling normal again.

I had a fun weekend that went by way too quickly: wine tastings Saturday afternoon, a fun dinner with shvetufae and our significant other-types Saturday evening, and an afternoon of wackiness with my writing group in Philly on Sunday. And on either side of all that, there was productivity.  So on that note, here's the productivity report since Friday:

Reading: I've read and enjoyed the first three stories in Prime Codex: "To the East, a Bright Star" by James Maxey, "Ticktock Girl" by Cat Rambo, and "The Man With Great Despair Behind His Eyes" by Ken Scholes.

Exercise: Got in 20 minutes on the elliptical strider on Friday, but had to take yesterday and today off due to injury. Coming home from my writing group meeting on Sunday, I slipped in the train station and banged my left knee on the floor. There's a big honking bruise there now, but otherwise it's ok--luckily, I hit just below the kneecap.  I think I can safely resume exercising tomorrow.

Music: Lots of piano playing and singing. We were short altos for the second week in a row in my church choir, so I got to be a switch hitter, which has led to everyone dubbing me a sopralto.

Writing-Related Stuff: I had to crit two stories for Sunday's writing group meeting, and I was quite relieved to be free of critique dread for the first time in a long time.  Woo hoo! In the submissions department, two stories have come home.  One went right back out the door, but the other one is torn about whose slush pile it wants to visit next.  I'll give it a few days, but any longer than that and it's gonna have to start paying rent if it wants to stay on my hard drive.

Writing: A little over 500 words (maybe more) on the zombie story.  Not phenomenal progress, but I think I'm finally getting a better sense of what this story wants to be, which might help me get through the rest of the first draft faster now that I won't be groping my way around in the dark anymore.

I was feeling a lot better today, though definitely not a 100%, which made the temptation to give into slugdom tempting. So I wasn't hugely productive, but I slogged forward, and slogging forward is better than sitting there on my ass playing mahjong all day.

Reading: Yet more of Musicophilia. I've got one chapter left in the third section, which has been dealing with music and movement--lots of stories about how music can help people with things like Tourette's and Parkinson's. I should be able to finish the fourth and final section of the book by the end of next week.

Exercising: An easy 15 minutes of pilates since I still wasn't feeling all that hot

Music Stuff: No practicing today, but that was anticipated, so no points to the slug. We had tickets to go see a play called My Name Is Asher Lev (adapted from the novel by Chaim Potok) tonight, so it was dinner in Philly followed by the play in place of practice time.

Writing Business: I had a story sitting in the bullpen, eagerly waiting for the next market on the list to re-open to subs, but then someone pointed the way to a new anthology: Escape Clause. So I sent that eager little story trotting out onto the field, pitching arm ready.

Writing: Got a little bit of work in on the zombie short story