Momentum

I've written more words over the past month than I did in the four prior, so it's mostly sunny over here at Camp Joe. Did a little digging around the ol' story trunk and found a couple of goodies that could use some polish, and that's where most of my efforts are currently. That, and a complete rewrite of a story that is currently out for submission at a big market...

Yes, I know, stupid. But I think the story could be so much better than it is if I had approached it from a different angle. I don't even know if anything will come of it, frankly; I'm kind of in a funk, and can't quite find the voice, so it might end up being one more useless exercise.

Did re-read "The Bright Walk," the story I have out currently at The New Yorker, and man if that isn't the best damn story I've written so far. It's got heart, character, voice, pitch-perfect narrative (if I do say so muhself). It's at a level I've always thought I was capable of, but haven't reached in a long time. Reading it again was a nice reminder that I'm not as terrible as I sometimes think.

I'm up to five stories out for consideration as of today, which is a very good feeling. Three of them have been out a while, but two left the coop only a day or so ago. Very exciting stuff. Found a very cool new market on Duotrope Digest, decided to sub there. Semi-pro rates and everything! I'll let you know more about them if they're smart enough to accept my story!

Til next time...

Cleaning out the Trunk, and Other Musings

"Trunk" is probably the wrong word here, because the stories I uncovered today aren't really trunk stories--they're just unfinished stories that were left unfinished (and subsequently forgotten) when I let the rejections get to me earlier this year.

Looking at them now, I see a ton of what I call Bits 'n' Pieces, or a bunch of individual documents that include plot summaries, scene snippets, or entire chapters of various different projects I was working on at the time. This folder reminds me of Prypiat twenty years after Chernobyl. Some things are abandoned mid-sentence, as if my email box chimed as I was writing, and I paused to open what would be the rejection that finally sent me over the edge.

Man, what was I thinking? How did I let a few stupid rejections stop me from writing this stuff? The wonderful fantasy story that had me so excited last year is here, ripe, waiting to be plucked; the wizarding school story I wrote (not like Harry Potter, don't worry) is sitting here, almost finished, and quite slickly-written. I even stumbled across the first draft of a dragon story that's actually complete, just awaiting revisions. Oh, and there's a story called "Magic Words" that is complete, ready, done. It's even been rejected once.

What the hell happened to me? I was churning out stories and ideas like a madman. Why the hell did I stop?

This is good. This is good stuff. I'm going to start tearing into these stories, see what's worth keeping, and get the ball rolling. I was worried that I only had one (soon to be two) stories on the market--this should take care of that in rather short order.

Oh, and I finished the second draft of "The Machine" today. I'm eager to start a third draft, but it's after 5pm on a Friday, so I have all weekend to get it polished up proper before anybody would ever see it anyway, so I might as well take my time with it. But the goal DEFINITELY is to have it ready for submission come Sunday night. That's a promise I'm making to me right now.

Or not. We'll see. haha.