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March 7, 2010.
Believe it or not, I’m still a little under the weather. I’m beginning to suspect I had the hamthrax. Five weeks out and I’m just now starting to feel like myself again. All it really means is that I’m sleeping way more than usual, drinking a gallon of water a day, and a bit behind in my correspondence.
So better late than never, I’m happy to announce that I’ve applied to Clarion and Clarion West. These are kind of a big deal as far as writing workshops go. They receive hundreds of applicants every year and only a handful are accepted. The odds are not in my favor but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Even if I do get accepted, there are a lot of obstacles standing in my way. There’s the house for sale in Illinois and a few lingering divorce debts that must be paid before anything else. I’m working hard at that and things are moving in the right direction. Then there’s taking six weeks off of work. I think I can pull that off, but it means I’m going to be pulling a lot of long hours in the months beforehand to make up for it. A worthy sacrifice, if I get the call.
I only have one hard deadline coming up in March. The next quarter of Writers of the Future closes at the end of the month and I plan to have a third consecutive story ready for them. Aside from that I’ll be doing lots and lots of editing. I’m calling a moratorium on new stories until I get some of these drafts revised and into a submission-worthy state.
Good luck shout outs to my tribe mates, Christie and John, who also applied to Clarion. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all of us.
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February 24, 2010.
February is coming to a close and I’m scrambling like mad. Clarion closes to applications on March 1st. One application story is done. I have a second one more or less ready, but I’m debating a last minute replacement.
I’m putting the grind wheel and polish to my as yet untitled story for the Scheherazade’s Facade anthology, due February 28th. It’s shaping up into something that makes me happy. I pushed myself when writing this and for that reason I’m also considering using it as my second Clarion story.
I’ll be getting back to schedule after these deadlines have passed. I’m behind on updating my goals and schedule but the progress I’ve made, despite being knocked on my ass for a few weeks, is satisfying.
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February 18, 2010.
My mom had reconstructive ankle surgery to correct some of long-term damage caused by polio so I spent the last few weeks with her, doing laundry and cooking and whatnot. I also took the opportunity to wear down my annual deductible and get a few lingering medical issues looked at. And while in Illinois, I picked up a rather nasty flu that has wiped me out completely.
Most of the effects of the flu are gone, knock on wood. My energy seems to be the last thing to return. I’ve been regularly sleeping 10-12 hours/day, which is a far cry from my usual 6-7. It’s cut into my writing time severely, including updates here and on twitter. I suspect I’ll be back to normal in a few more days and will be back to work on things. End of month deadlines that must be met, flu or no flu.
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February 11, 2010.
Not only is Kyle Cassidy a heck of a photographer, writer and teacher, he is also one hell of a nice guy. I had a lucky chance to meet and learn a few photography skills some months back. He learned that I was also a writer and offered to send me one of his extra fountain pens. I very nearly squeed.
I’ve been interested in fountain pens for as long as I can remember. When I was young I used some cheap, cartridge-filled pens on occasion but fell out of habit as I aged. I always admired fountain pens from afar, and lived vicariously through my friend Dierdre and her pen obsession. That pen from Kyle, an old Arnold sitting on the bladder transplant list, resparked that old passion. This past Christmas I received brethren to join my collection.
The awesome Kyle is running a contest on his blog and the lucky winners will also receive a nifty fountain pen that is in need of love and affection. Go there. Make a semi-anonymous post with a picture of your notebooks, assuming you’re like us and write longhand, as well as a small writing sample – a poem, a paragraph, a snappy retort, whatever.
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February 2, 2010.
Week 4 ended on a bit of a downer. I’d been doing well, writing a bit each day but the streak came to an end. I drafted two short stories and three flash fiction. I started a fourth but it wasn’t ready to be told. Instead of forcing it, I skipped a day.
Somewhere along the way, I caught a nice little cold/flu, was diagnosed with some vitamin deficiencies (insert scurvy joke here, matey) and started a few new prescribed drugs. Needless to say, it’s taken a toll on my energy levels. Falling asleep at 9pm and sleeping for 11 hours is definitely not what I would call my normal. Hopefully the worst of this will pass in a few days.
My goals throughout February are slightly changed (I’ll update my goals list when I have more energy). So named by Andrea, February is now Type Edit Polish Submit (TEPS) month. Type up draft zero and whip it into shape, clean it up, and send it to market. This should be good practice for me. Writing first drafts is easy; I have twenty of them in that state. Editing is the hard work and the thing I need the most work at.
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January 27, 2010.
From time to time I talk about things of an extremely personal nature. Talking is cathartic and healthier than the alternative. Herein I ramble about depression, anxiety, and other foibles.
Continue reading ‘This glass ceiling also has a floor and four walls’
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January 22, 2010.
Another kind of successful week — 3,237 new words, bringing the years total to 10,404.
I’m still struggling with revisions. I got critiques back on two of my stories this week. The crits were brutally honest, the way I like them, and resonated with things I’d been trying to figure out myself. One thing I’m uncovering is that I don’t read critically enough. Having a third party point out an issue is great. I don’t always agree, but I usually see their point of view. It’s not easy but I’m trying to be honest with myself about the stories I’ve written.
The story I’ve been trying to edit? Broken. Not hopelessly so, but it’s going to require enough work to fix, and my voice has changed enough since I originally wrote it, that a rewrite is in order. Off to the salt mines it goes, until I decide it’s ready to play nice again. I’m accepting that there are practice stories. I don’t remember where I saw the term mentioned recently, but it stuck with me. These are the stories written that were useful to move from one phase to the next but are critically damaged as-is. You can either spend the time to rewrite and fix them, or stick them in the trunk and move on. The option to revisit is always there later.
Part of this process is re-evaluating my goals on a regular basis. If something doesn’t work, change it. I’m going to give myself a break from stressing over revisions this week, instead focusing on finishing the new story I’m working on and the essay that I want to write. February is going to focus more on revision. Fixing what’s broken, instead of putting a pretty coat of paint on a broken plot or weak characters.
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January 19, 2010.
Well no, because I’m not ready to talk about that just yet.
Hershel posted his list of stuff he can’t live without the other day and it got me to thinking. I’ve learned a lot about myself and materialism over the past two years. I found that I don’t need a lot of stuff to be happy. Not that I’m a monk or anything but I’ve come to understand the “less is more” mentality. There’s few things outside of the obvious food/shelter that are must-haves, but I do have a list of things that I wouldn’t fathom being without.
Some might say it’s cliche, but my list starts with Andrea. Without her, I might still be in the dark place and that wasn’t good for anyone involved.
The tools of my trade
- My Moleskin notebooks — they go where I go.
- A fountain pen. Right now it’s the Azure Blue Regatta by Monteverde that my Mom gave me for Christmas. I have a different pen, my first real fountain pen, given to me by the awesome Kyle Cassidy, awaiting repairs.
- I suppose I should claim my Macbook Pro as a necessity. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to work from a desktop.
- Friends. As introverted and socially awkward as I tend to be, my friends bring me more joy than I can express.
- Twitter/Facebook/Email/LiveJournal – how I communicate with most of my far-flung friends.
- My iPod – Music is a very important part of my life that I don’t seem to talk about that often.
- My iPhone – I deliberated leaving it off the list, because I’d rather use it to text or twitter than to talk.
Maybe what this says about me is that I’m an extrovert trapped inside the mind of an introvert. Pretty much everything that I consider important to keep near and dear revolves around communicating with the world.
Published on
January 16, 2010.
A new short story and a flash fiction drafted, and a second short story underway. Over 7,500 new words this year, with my average rising to 509 words/day. The Honorable Mention nod and a personal rejection also came in. The year is off to a good start.
I’m still struggling with revisions. I failed my weekly goals this week, getting almost no editing done nor my outline for the Dollhouse essay. The essay contest’s deadline has been extended by two weeks, so I’ve adjusted my goals to reflect that. What I think I need to do is set more specific revision goals. A page a day, maybe. I do well when I’m working against a deadline but I have way too many stories sitting neglected that don’t have a hard stop against them. I’m never going to get more submissions out the door if I don’t start revising on a regular basis.
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January 14, 2010.
I felt a little blue this week, grousing over revisions and my sometimes fragile ego. I distracted myself by patiently refreshing the Writers of the Future blog and checking the mail every few minutes, hoping to see some word of the 2009 Q4 results. Well, the list of Honorable Mentions was released before they had a chance to update the blog.
“Out of the thousands of stories that get submitted to the contest, a small percentage make it this far,” Wentworth continued. “Past Honorable Mention stories have gone on to see publication elsewhere. That is how competitive this contest is. The contest quality of submissions is the best of the best.”
I am pretty pleased to see my name on the list of Honorable Mentions. It certainly shook me out of my funk. I’m one for one so far, so We’ll see if I can keep up the streak with my Q1 submission. Now to see if I can find a good home for the Q4 story.
As an aside, is there any benefit to adding “received Honorable Mention, Writers of the Future Q4 2009″ to a stories cover letter? My guess is no, since a shiny rejection is still a rejection and not relevant to the new market.
