Grind Grind Grind

4

After elation of making a sale, I’m back to grinding away.  Rejections keep trickling in, though some have been very nice.  I’m trying not to get too down about having so many nice rejections.  I know it’s a good sign, I just wish I knew what I could do to push the stories over the edge of “good” and into “sold”.  I’m hoping that the workshop I’m attending in Feb will help shed some light on how to do this.   I plan to work my ass off at the workshop, and to try to absorb everything I can, and be as open minded as I can.

I’m more nervous in some ways about the novel workshop.  I’m almost done on the editing pass of “A Heart in Sun and Shadow” and have been riding the rollercoaster of “this is good” and “zomg, how did I write something this bad?”  I really have no idea if it is any good at all.

The hardest part of the editing has been the fact that my brain has moved on.  I am no longer living and breathing this world.  My mind is out of Cymru and running around the mountain kingdom in “Sindra’s Storm” (which still refuses to be outlined).  So the few parts I added to might not really work with the whole.  I’m not sure.  I guess I’ll find out in Feb, for it will be interesting to see if anyone can even tell where I added things.  I didn’t end up adding as much as I at first thought I might, and I’ve cut a few things, so the novel is still quite short and will likely top out around 87,500 words.  The final 50 pages should be quick to finish.  Just a few tweaks of some scenes, and of course the copy/paste of the proper spelling of my main character’s name.  The first half took so much longer because I hadn’t started bothering to use proper dialog punctuation yet.  Never. Doing. That. Again.  From now on, I am not going to be lazy on the first draft.  Nor will I EVER take 8 months off in the middle of a novel. Ever. Again.

So that’s my project for today.  Then next week I’m going to finish the three short stories I’ve started, finish the novella, and then get it out the door for Q2 WOTF.  Then, then it’s time to write “Sindra’s Storm”.  For better or for worse, outline or no outline.

On a side note, I should really look up a market for the erotic non-speculative story I’m part way done with.  Yay for trying things totally outside my comfort zone.  Now, if only it will sell.  Sigh.

4 Responses to “Grind Grind Grind”

  1. Ursula

    This week is nice job rejections for me . . .

  2. osomuerte

    I understand the anxiety about the novel workshop. The difference between watching people butcher your short story versus your novel is like the difference between watching them butcher your gerbil and your child. (Too much? You get the idea.) It’s probably the reason I abandoned novels for years while I honed my skills. That and my obsessive focus on Clarion. Oddly I have this idea that I’ll go to Clarion (eventually) and come out ready to write a novel after all that intense short story work.

    Anyway, take comfort knowing most editors don’t send me notes about how nice my story was, just little slips of paper with polite “no thanks” on them.

    • izanobu

      thanks, Oso. I hope you get into one of the Clarions this year, I can stalk your blog during then 🙂

      I started writing novels when I realized it was basically the only way to make a living at writing fiction. I have huge fear of novel writing, but I’m working through it. I know the odds say this novel won’t sell, but it should would be nice if it did. Sigh.

      Meanwhile, guess I better write the next one. And the one after that 😛

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