It’s a sad thing being right. Crossed Genres didn’t accept the short. As always, they were graceful in indicating they weren’t going to use it. And they took time to provide some feedback for the story, which was pretty valid feedback. Long story short, the protagonist was a little weak.
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It was awesome to see my short go up on Wily Writers this weekend. It’s a little weird having an audio version of my story up, but kinda neat.
No word yet from Crossed Genres. Based off of things said in their blog, I don’t think my story’s going to be accepted. Nothing definite. They haven’t actually said, “We picked stories and alerted authors,” and I just haven’t heard anything. But my confidence is waning.
Talked to the Powers That Be at work yesterday to find out what would be involved in taking a leave of absence this summer. The good news is that it’s doable. The bad news is that I cease accruing vacation/sick leave while I’m gone and, scarier still, after 30 calendar days of absence I lose insurance coverage. In theory, at 6 weeks, the workshop lasts about 42 days. Might be a day or two less if I get to subtract a weekend day off at the beginning because of the start time. But, yeah. Kinda scary. I’m still inclined to do it, but now I know there are other risks besides just not having a paycheck for six weeks.
My first short at Wily Writers is now up. You can get it here:
http://www.wilywriters.com/blog/?p=1285
It’s available in both text and audio format. It’s free to read or download, but there’s also a donate button. This will be the first time I’ve had an “opt in” payment instead of a flat fee from the publisher. This could be awesome or embarrassing.
I’ve also tweaked the format over at bolthy.com so that I’m better highlighting whatever new thing is available to read somewhere. In the off chance that anyone ever goes there.
I was kinda excited because I thought I’d found the perfect circle to update this, Facebook and Twitter all at once. But there’s something weird about what it’s deciding to post on my “Wall” from my “Notes” on Facebook. And if it doesn’t appear on my Wall, it doesn’t get fed to Twitter. I’m not sure how it decides what to post on the Wall. I’m tinkering around with settings to see what works. I may have to just cross post stuff to Twitter. Blergh.
Slowly chugging away on my short story. I had this realization that I had my plot arc well mapped out, but my protagonist did not have a whole lot of soul. Currently at 2,892 words. Think I might have another couple thousand before I’m done. It’s a bit different from my other stuff, so I’m feeling less confident. Plus there’s all that, “Agh, I’ve learned this stuff but I don’t know how to apply it well! Instead I’m just freaking out about it!”
Haven’t touched my excerpt/synopsis for A Sunless Garden. Need to do that soon. I keep telling myself, “I’ll do it when I’m done with the short I’m working on.” I think I’m within spitting distance of done with the short, though. I just find it fascinating how much more time it takes to write parts of a short story than it does an equivalent word count in NaNoWriMo. =P
Feeling kinda anxious about my last submission to Crossed Genres. They received a record high number of submissions. I’m feeling kinda anxious about whether or not it will get accepted. Heck, since they now have slush readers, I’m not sure if I even made it past the slush readers. Ah, the suspense.
I’ve made a Twitter account for myself. I also made a Page for myself on Facebook. And now this blog feeds into Facebook, which then feeds into Twitter. It’s like a massive circle. Massive.
I was reminded that I had one other short story that could be considered for a Clarion/Clarion West application: “A Ghost of Christmas Past,” from the Cobalt City Christmas anthology. I think it was off my radar because I never thought of it as a “stand alone” piece, but maybe I’m wrong. I would be open to opinions, especially if you aren’t familiar with the Cobalt City universe.
In the interest of trying to get some stuff going, I’m hoping to get feedback from folks.
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After making my LJ post earlier, I spent a long bus ride home brooding over how stupid my reasons for dithering seemed.
So, with a small loan from the special lady friend, I’ve signed up for the short story course. If I go insane, well… this is why. But if writing is really my goal, I cannot in good conscience blow this off.
In two weeks, the class begins.
Eek!
A friend of mine brought to my attention this link:
http://planetalyx.livejournal.com/798640.html
This led me into a whole realm of learning about UCLA’s distance learning program for writers. The classes planetalyx talks about sound awesome, and a whole wealth of other classes of a similar bent also sounds awesome.
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I’ve made some progress on my goals. I now get to face the scarier things on my goal list. Also, some small miscellaneous news. And I will tell you about it in that order.
It’s been nearly a month since NaNo ended. I have been giving myself a break from the novel after the hectic pace of November. But now that rest period is over, and I’m trying to consider what step to take next. I’ve been working on a short story submission for Crossed Genres, but I want to get back to one of my bigger projects. I spent so much time last year working on short stories that my novel languished uncompleted. But some stuff has come to my attention that I’m considering trying to do. This has resulted in a timeline, which I will put behind the cut.
