A Writer's Paradise

Can't talk, writing.

Lots of things I could say, about organizations I don't belong to, about goals that I've met and goals that I haven't met.

I would easily spend an hour sifting through my thoughts. It would be an hour I wasn't writing. So. Not today.

This is mostly just to explain radio silence. Sometimes it's important to blog. For me, this is not one of those days.

Here's a Pretty Picture to Distract You

So, how did it go with my priorities this week?

The answer behind the cut.

Well, not so good. In part because I didn't sit down to write as much as I should have--other things kept cropping up, in the time-honored way of slackers and dilettantes everywhere. (In part, my mom was here, and I had to panic about that a little beforehand, too. In other part, because I chose to socialize once when I should have been working. In part, because I slept in three out of five mornings last week. In part because I finally have all the new component pieces of my computer assembled and in one case, and I have been doing things like offloading old pictures to Flickr (see above) and getting my music all on one drive, and, uh, finally playing that Sims 2 expansion pack I got a year ago.)

So, yeah, it's all on me, oh, yes, it is. Me, and February. I really hate February. Basically, any time of the year when you will clobbered by cold, dark, and grayness for days and days at a time is a loser of a month. And that's practically the whole winter in Michigan.

But enough about blaming it all on winter. It's still my fault. Winter didn't make me fire up the Sims.

I got about 2k of my 5k goal done. This included rewriting the first thousand words about three times, so technically, I did write 5000 words. However, for the purposes of our exercise here, that doesn't actually count.

I wrote nothing on the story I meant to be writing. I started another one instead. WHY? Because I SUCK.

And because it was cold. And dark.

Okay, so. What didn't work this week? First, having a houseguest sincerely didn't work. There's not much I can do to control this--short of saying I never want to see anyone ever again, and that's not going to fly. I did manage to write, successfully, for about an hour last night (maybe two), and I had the opportunity to write yesterday afternoon, but I couldn't make it work. (That was stuff I rewrote, and I knew I was sucking as I wrote, so I gave up and played Sims and organized photos instead.)

Basically, it's an issue of me not being able to summon the right mindset as soon as I have that hour to sit down and write. It takes just a little too long to swing into said mindset. I need a better way to focus. So. Duly noted. I think I'll try to use the Write Now meditation podcasts for writers to get better at this.

My mom may leave tomorrow, or she may leave on Thursday--it's up in the air right now, depending on how many clients she gets--so, my office is inaccessible for one to three more mornings and one to two more evenings. Planning around this just involves either writing in my bedroom (at night) or at the kitchen table (in the morning), so that's solved, I guess--unless, of course, she's awake at those times and wants to talk. The point of my mother visiting is that we visit, after all.

Without the anticipation of a visit, though, I expect to be back on the horse as soon as she's gone, though. This weekend must and should be highly productive.

Okay, that's enough babbling. I've more to think about in terms of goals and priorities and such. My goals for this week are identical to last week:

My writing goals are:

• to write 5k of ≥ by next Monday review
  
• to write at least 15 minutes a day on the short story

I'll let you know, one way or another.

First Monday of February

My two priorities for February:

• novel: ≥ (no really, that's my title)
  
• short story: currently untitled fairy tale retelling for the CatsCurious thing

I have other items on my Feb. agenda, of course, like Excelsior! writers meet on the, uh, 13th, and I'll need to crit for that, and I have a secondary goal of keeping everything in circulation come hell or high water, and some secondary priorities, like rewriting those three shorts I listed earlier today--but all of this either on unplanned-for free time (like lunch hours or breaks) or after I've put in at least two hours a day on the other projects.

Not that I'm going to be able to put in two hours a day every day; my goal is to do 1 hour for the novel and 15 minutes for the short story. (Also, the novel is really a novella, and the short story is really a novelette. Just so we're clear.)

My weekly review:

Well, I'm not reviewing last week, basically.

My writing goals are

• to write 5k of ≥ by next Monday review
  
• to write at least 15 minutes a day on the short story

I plan to use an hour of writing time at 6:45am (after the kid gets on the bus, before I go to the gym), and about an hour between 9-10pm. Anything else will be a gift. Further, at some point, perhaps even this week, Julie and I may resurrect Write Club, which will be an unfettered evening of writing between 7:30 and 10:30. (I can't guarantee that'll be this week, because I haven't discussed it with her yet.)

Anyway, any more blathering about this, and it will just be catwaxing. I'm done.

Goals

Excuses, excuses, everywhere there are excuses... my excuse is, that my goals for last week rather didn't take into account that a weekend with a full house is inevitably less productive than a weekend spent mainly alone.

I took only one evening off during the week: one evening where writing totaled less than 45 minutes. (The rest of said evening was spent catching up on Desperate Housewives and Project Runway. Probably the two of the worst reasons on my TiVo for not writing, but the truth is, I was tapped out and need a break, and pacing myself is going to be a real lesson somewhere along the way here.)

Of course, I didn't really write anything today (and I'm just getting started about an hour before bedtime), and I didn't write much yesterday (perhaps a half hour of concerted effort and a lot of time diddling around--prewriting, as I call it--though I spent most of the day in my head thinking through some plot points). Brain-time, they say, is very important, too, but even my brain-time is getting derailed by Seriously Stupid Shit, none of it related to writing.

On with goals analysis. My goals for the week of February 19th were (accomplished goals struck through):

* attempt final rewrite of problematic scene and resubmit to editor
* attempt ending for "Wedding Dress Tea Parties of 2443"
* read 30 synopses on Miss Snark
* synopsis for Bitter Road
* notecard Bound by Spells (partially done)
* rewrite two chapters of Bitter Road (rewrote half of one)
* Zelazny entry for Sekrit Project (nope)
* take notes on Breakout Novel and return to library (mostly done)
* take notes from last Baux book and return to library (nope)
* notecard, chart or SOMETHING "Alloy" and "Gesundheit" (sort of)

I did the vital things. Some of the things I didn't do failed because I ended up taking the thing in a different direction. I did several things not on the list at all, like outlining a new novel that invaded my psyche midweek, writing about 1500 words of scenelets from Heroes of the Cold Island while the mood was on me... and I read a hell of a lot more synopses than just 30. I don't think that was a mistake.

Not my best performance on paper--if I'd buckled down yesterday, I'd have a few more strikes, but on the other hand, I'm pleased with the progress of the week.

The future-noodling is cut.

Goals for week of Feb 26:

* re-attempt ending for "Wedding Dress Tea Parties of 2443"
* notecard Bound by Spells (partially done)
* rewrite two chapters of Bitter Road
* Zelazny entry for Sekrit Project
* take notes on Breakout Novel and return to library
* take notes from last Baux book and return to library
* work on query letter for Bitter Road

Preliminary Goals for week of March 5th:

* rewrite two chapters of Bitter Road
* work on agent list for Bitter Road
* Bujold entry for Sekrit Project
* pitch letter for Sekrit Project
* work on agent list for Sekrit Project
* check in with Julie on Sekrit Project

Preliminary Goals for week of March 12th:

* rewrite final chapters of Bitter Road
* copyedit heck out of Bitter Road
* get gamma reader opinions on Bitter Road
* check in with Julie on Sekrit Project

Preliminary Goals for week of March 19th:

* submit queries on Bitter Road
* check in with Julie on Sekrit Project

Preliminary Goals for week of March 26th:

* submit queries on Sekrit Project

Preliminary Goals for April:

* official novel break: short stories only this month

Preliminary Goals for rest of year:

* rewrite Regency
* finish Bound by Spells
* finish six short stories

The Week Ends, the Week Begins

1 rejection, 0 acceptances

Like freakin' clockwork.

And, like freakin' clockwork, the "resend hand" sweeps around, packages the story and sends it back out...

Weekly Update

Managed to write fewer words than the number of hours I spent trying to write said words.

I did manage to shove a couple stories out the door, and made some brain-case headway on another story, but it's kind of been a bust around here. I'm going to do a massive decluttering of my home workspace and hope that jumpstarts some positive feelings--preparatory to painting the room anyway, so even if it doesn't, I've been productive in some regard.

I bought a ceiling fan, cream paint and mauve-cranberry paint that matches a mauve-cranberry pillow I bought in France 3 years ago. Time to make the magic happen. There's got to be a comforter for sale in the world that is somewhere between cornflower and turquoise to go with the pillow (it's shimmery fabric, and the sheen is cornflower/turquoise)... between that and some antiqued brass switchplates, I'll have a new workspace before spring has sprung.

Weekly Assessment

"Thaw": +500 words
BROC: +1,000 words (not good!)
"The Library Seed": almost fully rewritten
"Sticks and Bones": up at the OWW

and the real news... I'm now a volunteer part-time slush reader for Lenox Avenue.

A wise woman or three once told me: the best way to learn more about your own writing is to read slush. Five submissions later... I think they might be right.

In other news, while waiting for my aesthetician (yes. I wax my eyebrows. Wanna go?), I decided to give something new a go... that before and after I sit down and write every evening, I write down my current list of goals. Not just goals for the evening, but for the week/month/year. I want to watch the evolution of said goals, and see how (and when) I switch gears. I've no idea if it will be revelatory or merely interesting. But I have the notebook all primed and ready.

Now, if I could just figure out who has been stealing my good pens.

Weekly Assessment

bodycount: 1 rejection, 0 acceptances

wordcount:

• Only 2,000 total on Conquest. Must. Do. Better! It's very nearly a month into this "starting novel thing" and it's like I haven't actually convinced my brain that's what we're doing.
• Finished the epistolary story, but I don't particularly like it. It goes in the "Wait and See" file.
• Wrote the last scene in "Reclamation" (or maybe it's "Reclamation Agent." I don't quite know). Now, for the middle.
• "The Library Seed" is an Editor's Choice at OWW, so I'm still sort of waiting for that crit before I do full-on rewriting. But, soon.
• I keep meaning to put up "Sticks and Bones" at the OWW. I even wrote reviews and everything. (Four of them, in fact, and two for one of the people who rec'd OWW to me in the first place... interestingly, she wrote back to say that I was the only person who "got" her story. That's twice in two months. I'd feel sorta proud, except it frustrates me that people aren't getting these perfectly gettable stories! Their frustrations aside, it worries me about my skills, it does, assuming one's writing and reading trajectories are similar. Not that they are or should be. But what if?)

concount: for WisCon, am waiting to hear about Julie's renting of the car. For WorldCon, I have: registered for WorldCon, nominated stuff for the Hugos, bought tix to Manchester from JFK, registered for Milford, reserved a car, and reserved hotels in both Haworth and Glasgow. On the agenda still: get a Glasgow roommate, figure out tix from DTW to JFK (there might be some stepdaughterly shuttling going on, which was the reasoning), write to the Bronte Society for permission to access the archives, and calm down. On the total happy side of that, my room at the B&B (the Aitches) in Haworth overlooks the Parsonage. I am geeked.

There are probably other things to report, like my depression about not having sold anything in months, and alla that, but you know. Another time. Apparently, just writing about Haworth and Glasgow and Milford will dispel depression long enough to get through a journal entry.

Categories

Allow me to introduce a split in the writing category:

writing progress, and
writing process

Progress will be how much I've written. Process will be how I got there. If I ever find myself bored again, I will go back and try to index previous entries accordingly.

That information, btw, would be categorized under blogging, for lack of a better term, though technically, it should be something like "blogging administration."

But there is such a thing as picking too many nits.

Anyway, in honor of Monday, I bring you a return of the Weekly Update, below.

Last week (the last two weeks, really), I worked feverishly on outlining By Right of Conquest. I also finished "Sticks and Bones" and sent it out... aaaand, just today, got the rejection from JJA.

This week, I plan to begin writing BRC--my schedule is 5,000 words a week--and assemble all my notes for The Bitter Road. I have much variety in my received notes on that book: some people liked it, some people didn't. Some people think it just needs a polish, some people think it needs major overhaulage. At the moment, I side with the major overhaulage camp.

Sad to say, I may have to consider The Bitter Road a lost cause, as is. It may very well need to be rewritten from scratch, without reference to the original manuscript, and with a singular eye towards following a logical chain of events with regards to the plot, and also controlling tone and character throughout. You know, like a book should be written. Like I'm trying to do with the new one. But we'll see. My work on the fourth draft will be dogged, persistent and low-key. I'm hoping it will be one of those happy moments when I realize "hey, I'm done!" instead of a big roller-coaster ride of fraught and overwroughtness.

I mean, that's what the current book is for.

This week, I also plan to make serious headway on at least one short story. It would be lovely to finish one--but not until after my 5k.

Weekly Doings

Nomail.

Having finished "The Lonesome Dark," I suppose it's time to actually put the polish on "Sticks and Bones," which was the last short I finished. (It'd be nice to finally get "The Paradise Covenant" shipped off, too, but at this point, I feel it to be nicely mediocre.)

(Actually, let's address mediocrity for a moment. I feel like fantasy might be the genre of choice for short-form fiction for me. Why? Because out of the (counts on fingers; gives up counting on fingers) mumblety-three stories I've finished and circulated, I've felt that the fantasy shorts are the ones that actually seem to work best. Likewise, I'm getting the intense feeling that fantasy long-form and I are not meant to be happy bed-fellows, while I still have hopes for sci-fi long-form. I'm sure it's just one more layer of self-doubt that I should chip away at. And yet, I momentarily embrace this layer and say It is True. It is Also Late, which is doubtless why I'm sounding like a scattered freakpants right now.)

So. Semi-official trunking of "Paradise Covenant" until I figure out how to make it sing (I think it may just need to be rewritten with kick-ass characters. Like I have *that* ability). "Sticks and Bones" and "The Lonesome Dark" poised for the vault over the transom. Maybe by the beginning of next week, so they can languish through Christmas on someone else's desk. What a cheery proposition. But I'd like to see them sent off before I bring The Bitter Road back into the fold and start reworking that (January's task) and before I begin By Right of Conquest. (I'd also like to write another short story or six, but that's another negotiation.)

Weekly Roundup

No rejections, no acceptances. Nuttin'.

-I wrote a very small (300 wordsish?) amount on "Wedding Dress..."
-Got in about 1300 words in the last two days on "Lonesome Dark"
-Am writing (mostly done with) a very brief reaction paper on Bede's account of England's conversion to Christianity for my Brit History class. 5 pages, double-spaced, feels like a ridiculously small amount of work. Now, if I could just finish this last page and a half without wanting to bang head on wall.

I began a to-do list to take me through the end of December. It includes many sorts of things, like writing the paper I'm currently working on, as well as finishing up the many unread periodicals lying around the house (since making the list, I did finish the October Realms of Fantasy), and also stories.

It might be useful through the end of the week. Bleah.

Dual Purpose: Monthly & Weekly Roundup!

This week....

-three rewrites of "Bound by Spells." No, really.
-started a rewrite of "Souls on a String."
-a few thousand scattered new words hither and yon, but sadly, no serious buckling down on anything, in spite of a few game efforts.

This month...
-3 rejections, 1 sale. Absolutely nothing to complain about there.
-no stories finished. Blah.

Goals for next month?
-put a serious dent in the The Bitter Road rewrite
-skeleton-writing of the October story
-finish a story

And onward.

Weekly Update

Uhm... I think I counted my "Souls on a String" rejection last week, so that makes one rejection this week, the one I got about 90 seconds ago on "Star and Galaxy."

Why can't that bugger find a home?! I don't know. It may not be a compelling story. It was a compelling dream, full of lush visuals, which is why I thought I should write it down... but I'm sure something got lost in the translation. Maybe I should just be happy to have a fine record of my dream, and trunk it, instead.

Or, maybe I'll look at it one more time and send it out one more time, because... persistence makes the heart grow fonder.

I managed to write about 2000 words on "Wedding Dress Tea Parties" but have not managed much else. On the other hand, learning to switch narrative voices when something doesn't work was a breakthrough that felt so good...

I did manage a rewrite of "Bound by Spells" and to partially rewrite "Souls on a String." So, other work was accomplished.

Not a Weekly Update

Because nothing really happened last week. I probably managed a scattered thousand words? Maybe two thousand, but somehow I doubt that.

My biggest accomplishments were pushing through feeling cruddy and writing anyway. I also started class and organized the books in my bedroom into piles. (Shocking good fun!) This had a purpose... I found some much-needed research material.

For all intents and purposes, I guess I took the weekend off. I've opened all my files a number of times, but nevertheless, no serious writing occurred. (And when I say "all my files," I'm not kidding.)

Other than that, a rejection on "Souls on a String" today.

Onward.

Weekly Doings

0 rejections
1 acceptance

Oh, man. I don't want this to be true, but that was in fact the third week in a row for acceptances, I think. (If it wasn't, that just means that Worldcon was one of the weeks, and that was just as jolly as any acceptance.)

The next few months are probably going to suck. There's no way I haven't managed to use up all the year's luck, is there?

(And yes, folks, this is the science of acceptomancy, to go with the art of rejectomancy.)

Other weekly doings:
1000 words or so on "Coming Due"
1000 words or so on "The Library Seed"
1300 words on "unnamed Anglo-Saxon thing," which may or may not turn into an homage to "The Twelve Dancing Princesses"
100 words or so on "Lawncare in the Afterlife"
500 words or so on "Wedding Dress Tea Parties of 2443"

0 progress on the novel

I managed to create actual, mostly MLA-proper citations for all my works, in case, you know. In case anyone ever wants to cite me, I guess. (I say "mostly" because I do not agree with the MLA format's use of dates over volume/issue information, and believe that there is a maximum form of accuracy in citation work that is achievable beyond APA/MLA standards. Uh... is it actually any wonder why I have two speculative fiction library stories percolating through the sand-filter of my mind?)

The only other thing to relate is that I made a pest of myself on the subject of "Huntswoman" to the Strange Horizons crew (by querying a few days earlier than etiquette demanded)--on the grounds that, y'know--every other time they'd been late, the rejection had gotten lost in the mail, and they hadn't been late at all. No, no. The rejectomantic irony is not lost on me. Intellectually, I know that lateness can mean more than lost communication--it can also mean that there are editors debating the relative merits of your work and fighting for it to join their inventory, or... similar.

Next time, I guess I'll manage to keep a little more patience. Yes. I very much will... Not that it worked out badly in this case (and my query letter actually was quite professional, not obnoxious. I hope.)

Weekly Progress Ho!

1 acceptance, 0 rejections.

I, for certain, did not expect to get that two weeks in a row.

This week, I worked a very little on "Lawncare in the Afterlife" and "The Library Seed" and "Coming Due." (sighs the sigh of the timelorn)

No Brook-book work either, and augh! Frustrating.

The only thing I did do was mend some tears in "Sticks and Stones"--which is a nice enough story, but I don't think is going to send anyone into paroxysms of happy. There's just not enough conflict. I don't know how to put any in, without writing a completely different story. Which, I suppose, I could and even should do at some point. Just... not now. Anyway, it's out with a handful of readers, and if anyone can point out just how flawed the story is, it's Jason. Yay for the Jasons of the world, for lo'--the Mers of the world certainly do need them from time to time.

I did have a break-through on "The Library Seed" on Friday, so I think I'll see how my fifth attempt at starting it goes. I have many pieces of the story, but no good beginning, and without a good beginning, there's not much point.

Now, just to figure out what children's books actually smell like... in spirit.

Weekly Assessment

1 acceptance, 0 rejections.

Wow, that's a good week. I mean, on paper. But I like rejections, in some ways. It makes me feel like stuff is happening. Especially when I'm not really writing--cause then it's the only thing happening.

Oh, yes! Not writing (much). I hate overtime. I'm not sure I'm going to work much more of it, since it's not required. We'll see how the guilt gorilla of writing shapes up against the guilt gorilla of work. (Thing is, the writing thing isn't exactly a guilt gorilla. It's something else. Something like how runners feel when they don't run--twitchy anxiousness, fear that the skill/endurance/whatever will fade...)

Ah, well. I did write some on Friday, but it was an exercise in frustration--too scattershot.

The Week...

I plan on writing tonight, but ultimately, not a lot of progress on any one project this week.

One rejection, on "Dead of Winter." I will send it out again. But not for a few days. Maybe not until there's another story back in the fold. It's just as easy to send out two stories as one. It is not just as easy to send out one as none.

Plugging away at The Bitter Road. Plug, plug, plug.

Weekly Whatsthewhat

Last week:

I made tiny progress on the novel rewrite, about eight hours less than was my goal. Well, I think I did work on it some other times, but it was in the "tweak one word and close the file" vein, and very well may have added up to the ten hours of my goal, but I'm not counting that time. Bleah.

I looked at "Sticks and Stones" and did a first run-through rewrite. Time to let it rest again for a while. The Minions are the next step--or other readers, should any appear on the horizon.

Hm. I did not rewrite anything else. (Kicks stupid goals from last week.)

Anyway. I think I have to remember that less-specific goals work better for me. That the only time I can get specific is in my lists and priorities, which are generally not shared with the reading public.

Three rejections: 2 on "Dead of Winter," one on "Sir Michael." Michael is temporarily trunked, until a market comes along. "Dead of Winter"--well, I'll keep trying, even though I think it's possible I managed to exterminate the dream-like quality that editors liked when I tried to concretize the story (which editors thought it needed).

No acceptances.

le sigh

Weeks? Yeah, I've heard of them.

I maybe should probably get back on board the weekly update train, though, honestly, monthly updates would also be good.

So, a little of both.

Last week:

I made some progress on the novel rewrite again. I think I may have broken through the block, whatever said block was, and now am more or less comfortable with the deep surgery. I'm... getting a little frightened of having it beta'd, just because I think it would depress me to discover it needs more surgery after this one. But, I'm mostly pushing back the fear. Fear like this is usually a sign that something needs to change, right?

I queried two items and found out they were never rec'd, so I turned them right back out the door.

I got a really nice rejection on "Sun's East," and sent it back out.

I got a good look at "Paradise Covenant" and stopped hating it. Enough to start rewriting it, in fact.

This week, I plan to finish rewriting either "PC" or "June Mothers" (or both) and do at least ten hours of work on the novel. I can't calculate how fast I rewrite, or even can rewrite, so... I'll just have to measure by time, and trust that I actually work during said time.

Last month:

submissions: 11
rejections: 2
withdrawals: 2
new stories circulating: 3 ("The Regency and the Roman," "Shotgun" and "The Subletter of my Subletter")

Writing Week

Let's not talk previous goals. I don't even remember previous goals.

I'll report on progress. Or, "progress."

-Chapters 1 & 2, edited. (Brook). By hand, on paper.
-Much time thinking. I now have about 10 new/different scenes, where the action will be built more gradually, more purposefully. I spent a lot of thinking time on them. Brainwork is just as important... isn't it?
-"Majuscule" about half-researched
-"Superliminal Letters" (a very working title) half-written
-begun, The Clairmont Correspondence

Goals for next week?

"Just keep doing what you're doing, hon."

Good deal.

Writing Week

Research week was... lackluster, but I did get some research done. We had a Write Club scheduling change, so I've already been this week. Again with the research, because nothing else was coming out.

No, really. The only writing I've done is resume and cover letter updating. This week. I'm not sure about a plan for this week yet. I need to cut 53 words from "Star and Galaxy" to send it out, run some minor edits on "Her Kaleidoscope Eyes" to send back to an editor, and find some sort of market for "June Mothers Stay Late."

I mean, assuming I don't just trunk everything on my list that currently feels as lackluster as my writing performance.

Research Week

I have realized that research has gotten in the way of several large or important projects lately, to whit, everything I'm currently interested in working on. "Majuscule" is stalled. Midsummer is less stalled, but I'd feel better if I had more information. ( may just get the big trunking when I'm done writing it, too, but I'd like to at least try to finish it.)

So, while I accomplished many writing goals from last week, I didn't accomplish the main ones of working productively on any new fiction. Just edited or re-read a lot of old fiction.

So. Research week. Possibly research month, if research week goes well. We'll see how it goes.

Writing Week

Hmph. I have almost nothing to update you all on. I've picked, I've prodded, I've been fraught and I've stomped my feet a lot. But I've mostly not written, nor edited, nor anything.

Did get a rejection this week ("Ill-boded Blade" came back from SH with almost no information. If I didn't know it was a good story, I'd start doubting it. Though part of me wonders if it might not be better with a little "What's that blood on your sword, Edward?" bit).

Eyep. One rejection. (Twiddles thumbs. Looks at mailbox out of corner of eyes.)

Goals, goals, goals.

Goals this week:

query for: "June Mothers" and "Touch"
edit: "Sun's East" & "Star & Galaxy"
write: "Majuscule" and Midsummer
submit: "Sun's East," "Her Kaleido" and "Star & Galaxy"
consider: reoutlining Midsummer
research reading: Glastonbury Abbey and The Twelfth-Century Renaissance for "Majuscule"; the journals of Clair Clairmont for Regency extravaganza
pleasure reading: finish Ash

Recent flights of fancy:

-could Spellbinder stories be YA?
-could the Anne Bronte thing be 3 or 4 books (one for each sister/sibling)?
-could either of the two Regencies be turned serial?

Oh, yes, and, as promised (I think), a look at some extended goals:
-each month, write one new short and rewrite one short to submission stage
-finish Midsummer by June 15
-rewrite Brook by July 30; acquire more beta readers for same
-Brook out the door by August 30
-Sept-Nov: Brook II and R&R
-Dec: rewrite Midsummer

-Jan-Feb 2005
get Midsummer outthadoor
begin Brook III

-Mar-June
finish R&R
finish Brook III
begin BRC

-Jun-Jul
begin Brook IV

-Aug-Sept
rewrite Brooks I-IV
outthadoor!

-Oct
rewrite R&R

-Nov-Dec
finish BRC

If it comes even close to that in the end, I'll be shocked. This is my revised thought; my earlier thought had me finishing all of this in one year. (You may well laugh. Julie certainly did. And then patted me and offered me hugs and headache medicine after a whap with the Reality 2 by 4. Not that she'll find this more realistic.)

Why the urgency? I don't know. The two prevailing theories are: that finally, after minimal validation of my lifelong ambitions I'm unwilling to remain minimally validated; or, that I've got the writerly equivalent of the biological clock going on here.

Ultimately,

Writing Week

I wrote. A lot.

Brook's Journey is finished. About half of it is in second-draft stage, and ready to move to third, polishing draft stage. The other half is still in first-draft stage, and will have to skip draft two to go directly to draft three, but there's nothing I can do about that, eh?

207 manuscript pages. Just a little thing, kinda cute and floppy in size, the way a middle-reader book should be. Don't know about the rest of it, though, except that it's not cute and floppy in any other ways. May be too serious. May be a LOT too serious. We'll see. The whole middle-reader thing was kind of a fluke, anyway; when it comes back, it may go on to become something else.

Kayla has agreed to read it. That might be the most nerve-wracking part. An actual 9-year-old critiquing a book meant for her age range. (Funny aside: "If it's as long as Anne of Green Gables, forget it!" "No, no. It's just longer than any of your Lemony Snicket books." "Oh. That's ok, then.")

It's in Julie's hands now. I'm going to start inputting Lisa's notes tonight, and write the synopsis.

It'll be ready to go on Friday.

Sometimes it's disturbing to find out what we're capable of.

Writing Week

Goals accomplished: none
Reason: idiocy
Excuse: I thought I should/could get Brook's Journey together for the Ursula Nordstrom contest.

I've not yet decided I can't.

50% of the book is in reasonable order. I edited my previous efforts into a coherent whole, and came up with a plot and wrote about 2k more than I started with, though I probably wrote 10k and cut 8k.

50% of the book is not yet done.

There are 9 weeknights, 2 full weekend days at the cottage, 8 lunch-hours and a half-day of vacation in which to finish.

Don't laugh!

If I'm truly impoverished for time, Julie volunteered to man the printers for me: I'm to use the internet magic delivery system and send her the final product, assuming I leave her a big envelope and enough postage.

Which would give me two nights in a hotel room, a few hours at the airport and possibly more time than that to work on it.

(The book is not allowed to come on the vacation. That's just impossible. That would lead to fights on the honeymoon, because it would make me cranky.)

So, that would be it, my writing goal for this week and next week.

Don't worry, I've already asked myself what the hell I'm thinking. What I'm thinking is, if nothing else, I'll have a solid base to start from in June, when I get rejected, and no cause to kick myself for not even trying.

Writing Week

Boy, have I lost points with myself, and failed to do the weekly update for two weeks now. A whole fortnight.

I did make a weak effort at a report.... but, well: weak.

Per my goal of 3 weeks ago: I did finish plotting Conquest, but have not moved beyond scene 5. I'm not quite sure what the issue is. Maybe I need to figure out what the issue is.

Maybe I just need to write.

I also finished "Souls on a String," and have rewritten it and polished it, and am ready to send it out and get its first rejection.

"Her Kaleidoscope Eyes" and "Ill-boded Blade" both came back, and I fully know that KE is a very middling story, and am ready to try less-paying markets. "Blade," well, I still have faith in that one, but I'm well aware that it's too short. I could probably quadruple it in size and have something real on my hands. Should I? Don't know. Will think on it. I'm reluctant to do so in case I ruined the story. As it currently is, it has the requisite beginning, middle and end--so what if it's only 775 words? The rest could be interesting, though I can't quite imagine what else would happen after Unferth goes home to tell his mom his brother is dead. (You always have to tell your mom.)

So, goals this week:

1) rewrite and send out 1 more story from the rewrite pile
2) some meaningful production on Conquest

The latter goal is inspired by a recent comment from Eric that he's still waiting to find out more. Flattering. And motivating as well.

Writing Week

Goals accomplished:
-send out "Hero & Prince"
-send out "Huntswoman"
-send out poetry to DMR
-figure out what I'm doing with "Reparations"
-partial rewrites on "Souls on a String"

Yeah, so that's a few things I didn't accomplish; and I did actually finish rewriting "Reparations," plus sent it back out.

Sunday, I spent most of my time toiling over getting my submissions ready to go.

Monday, I got a rejection on "Star and Galaxy" and tried to send it back out--but the Post Office was most injuriously closed due to President's Day. I wrote a bit after Kayla went to bed, but not much.

Tuesday, managed to make it to the PO and get International Reply Coupons (exciting!) and send out all the stuff from Sunday and Monday. Tuesday night at Write Club I finished the rewrite on "Reparations" and worked on "Souls." Also, got an acceptance on "Charmed Lives," first market I sent it to.

Wednesday, I mailed off my "CL" contract and started really plotting Conquest, using techniques from two sources (details later, if it turns out this method works). Took a working lunch at work--ran downstairs and microwaved my food and came back upstairs to do the plotting. Unfortunately, this means people think they can (and should) interrupt me. Must rethink working lunch strategy.

Thursday, plotted Conquest while gaming.

Friday, drove to Aunt Carol's, and plotted Conquest both in the car (with my tape recorder) and after she went to bed.

Saturday, scribbled Conquest notes as soon as I got up. Began to feel like I was getting somewhere fast, especially since I was on into the second and third book with some plot threads (which may sound like procrastination, but I think it will make for tighter plotting if I get the structure on some threads set beforehand. I promise).

Also, Saturday, came home and got the Mysterious SASE with Nothing In It. Am frustrated by this.

So, my additional accomplishments far outweigh the 2 or 3 pesky little goals I ignored. The point of goals, after all, is that something gets done; the guilt of not accomplishing anything is worse than the guilt of accomplishing other things. Right?

Goals for this week:
-finish "Souls on a String"
-rewrite 1 story (be it "Subletter," "Souls" or "Paradise")
-finish plotting Conquest and write 3k thereon (or more)

Writing Week

Week past:

Monday - I do not actually recall this day.

Tuesday - Write Club. Members in attendance: Lisa, Mer & Julie. Finished "Huntswoman."

Wednesday - failed to do anything meaningful

Thursday - see Wednesday

Friday - one notice that "Charmed Lives" made it to round 2; one rejection-but-you-could-rewrite on "Reparations", both timely 1-month responses from Kenoma and Fortean Bureau respectively

Saturday - rewrote "Hero & Prince"

Sunday - rewrote "Huntswoman"

In general, had some problems this week with motivation. Several days off, and many of the days on were just frustrating. I ended up trunking "Conquest" (it's true; it has to be a novel). Still no word on the last three things I sent out in '03, including no word on "June Mothers"--which I'm convinced died in transit.

For goals, I hit 2 out of 4 "mostly realistic" goals, and might have hit them all if not for sickness-related apathy and lethargy.

Goals for this week:
-send out "Hero & Prince"
-send out "Huntswoman"
-send out poetry to DMR
-figure out what I'm doing with "Reparations"
-rewrite "Subletter" (market research suggests that even things that silly may find a home)
-rewrites on either "Souls on a String" or "Paradise Covenant"
-restart Midsummer novel

Writing Week

A new feature! Look for it every Monday (I hope): what I did the previous week, goals for the coming week, and that sort of thing.

Week past:

Monday - thought about rejection, but sadly, merely sat on the couch and watched Stargate: SG-1. This recent spike in TV viewing has led me to propose to my husband that we watch no television at all for an entire week-- to reset the clock, as it were. He agreed! We'll see how the week goes, and I may challenge myself to that during Lent, not because I celebrate the Lenten season in any meaningful way, but because it's a convenient time to give things up, with an easily noted beginning and end-date.

Tuesday - Write Club. Members in attendance: Julie, Lisa and Mer. Accomplishments: bought Return of the King Soundtrack and wrote 1900 words, a story-complete (but ultimately, probably only a practice story, because it's a one-gag stinker). Called "The Subletter of my Subletter." Actually, don't know if one-gag stinkers are so bad.

Wednesday - tidy 1-month rejection from Dragons, Knights and Angels

Thursday - 2-month rejection from Cemetary Dance; filed rejections, chose markets, packaged manuscripts and all that jazz; wrote about 1000 words on various projects, none with alacrity since I was home from gaming feeling sickly anyway

Friday - read "Subletter" - didn't hate it; queried on some items lost at sea

Saturday - began to write like the proverbial wind; a 2500 word hour. Projects: newly devised "Huntswoman," and "Reclamation" (working title on the "Reparations" sequel)

Sunday - another 1000 on "Huntswoman," rewrote on "Paradise Covenant"

Week total: about 6k words, 1 finished story

Mostly realistic goals for this week:
-finish "Huntswoman"
-finish "Reclamation"
-rewrite "Paradise Covenant"
-send "Descent" out again

Extra-credit goals:
-start "Conquest" rewrite
-"Souls on a String" rewrite