Rough Month Ahead

For July, I hit a large quantity of my goals. The writing was a little slow, so hopefully I’ll be able to pick up the pace.

August, however, is gonna hurt.

Note the critique load:

  • 7 (seven!) critiques for UGWP…and they are of a longish variety (my submission makes 8)
  • 3 for CWC…and those are long, long, long

But, this is not all I have to do this month. Nope. Because I only submitted a partial partiality of a short story, I will have to submit the next installment at the end of the month to UGWP. And it’s my turn to submit to the CWC…so I hafta crank out at least 50 pages for them. What the (^^&(*#%R& was I thinking?

One can only laugh. Ha. Ha. Ha.

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Got a submission ready

Okay, so it’s not the full story, but even partially done, the beginning is running at 6 pages. This is gonna be a long one, so I don’t feel bad anymore about splitting it into–probably 3–different submissions for the Sunday group.

Of course, in my excitement I forgot page numbers…off to do that by hand!

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At least I don’t have to have a page count

Here’s the decision with the short story: I will submit it in two parts.

As soon as I came to that conclusion, the words came just a little easier but I do need just a little more freakin time. I was busy with the novel and thought I could do it…but such was not the case. Then, reading Fred’s submission, I realized I didn’t need to finish it all at once! So I get to submit twice. Once this month and once next month. While I’ll only get one piece out of it, at least I’ll feel productive.

At least I don’t have a page count necessary this month like some other people.

Who I love.

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Use it or lose it

It’s been a while since I’ve flexed my short story muscles. They seem very out of shape. Flabby even. I seem to keep wanting to add arcs and characters and whatnot. Admittedly, I’m planning a rather longer short story but I still feel that itch to add “Chapter One” to the top of the page.

However, I know it’s a short story. There is not enough material for a novel and it’s a short story that I intend to use for my future collection.

Originally, I chose to do this because I need to do something besides the novel. I’ve been looking at the same characters and rearranging the same situations. I just needed something new, ya know? Is that so wrong? So difficult to understand!?

Okay, I’m fine now.

So, I should have it done by Sunday. Hopefully before. Hopefully it won’t suck.

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Argh, Ergh, and other various things I can’t say out loud

What. Did the whole of the magazine world get together and say “It’s rejection season! Form letters to all writers!”

At least that’s what it feels like. Just got two smackers in the mail and am having a hard time not feeling the world is against me. Bastards just don’t recognize my genius.

That’s all.

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Now I know some bar things

Last night was interesting.

Met Ali at the bar and rushed through the back of the service area. Apparently I had everything turned around. There are a lot more coolers than I’d figured on. To say the least. The back of a bar looks far more industrial than the nineteenth century saloons would have you think. I know, seems obvious, right?

That being said, I pictured my fictional bar just a tad more old-school than what was there last night. No touch screens for registers. But that might be the only thing. Less classy menus…

Those are my brief initial thoughts. Now I need to bone up on what actual liquors would be there…the more generic ‘house’ brands and whatnot.

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Bar Research

I suppose if you’re going to write a novel it should be about something you’re interested in. After all, at some point, you will have to research various aspects of your piece–so that you don’t sound like a total schlub to the people who read your work.

So Ali has graciously offered to let me follow her around one night this week so that I can get an inside look at how a bar is run. You know all those little bitty details of things, like layout and procedure and whatnot? Apparently I have that all wrong. She has been hounding me to fix the ‘bar stuff’.

The closest I’ve ever been to mixing drinks is as a barista. According to Ali, mixing coffee and mixing alcohol are two totally different beasts…though I notice a remarkable similarity in the layout of the sinks (she sent me pictures, which I have diligently saved to my computer). I look forward to snooping around.

Here’s a question for you: What novel would you write, just so that you could do the research part of it all? Would you set it during a specific time period–like the Salem witch trials, just so you could go to Salem around Halloween? Or about a specific subject–like rock climbing?

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Kickin’ Ass and Takin’ Names

I only have one submission left to read! Yippee!

It’s all part of my devious plan. If I finish the submissions, then that leaves more time for my own writing through the rest of the month. Here’s the strike though: too much space between the written critique and the verbal critique. So I have to be extra, extra written…if that makes sense.

The good news is that if something consistantly bothers me through the month about a story/novel excerpt, then I know that it’s a real issue and should definitely be brought forward.

So here’s my question of the day: Is it better to do critiques early and get ’em done? Or should you wait, possibly waiting until the last minute, so that the story is fresher in your mind? Or do you blame the writer–if they didn’t write a memorable story, then it’s not the critiquer’s fault, right? (Hee, hee…always gotta pass the buck…)

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Ahh, poetry

Just received my first rejection for poetry, which was interesting. With my short stories I’ve gotten plenty of rejections and they followed the usual pattern: form, form with personal note, acceptances.

Now, with this new genre, I am back to form. No thank you. No ‘please submit again.’ The sting of it all. I mean, I’m not as attached to my poetry. But still, as a writer you think “I can write anything!” At least I do. But you’ve gotta put in the time in the genre you’re wanting to publish in. Yes? I just haven’t put in the same amount of man hours into poetry as I have in stories/fiction.

So, does that make publishing in novels doubly hard? You have to put in an incredible amount of time just to churn out one rough draft. Then there’s the revising. Then you look at what you’ve learned from it, realize it’s probably crap, and need to do another one. But you have already put in so much time. Yeesh.

Here’s to plugging away.

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July Time

June went fairly well. There was only one or two really panicky moments…one of them being the day of the CWC meeting–while I had all 50+ pages done, I unfortunately did not have them typed up and was, of course, making a desperate attempt to finish right up until the last minute.

So, that brings us to July. I got all of my June goals completed except for the new 10 pages of Guardian. Yay! Lots of check marks.

Here’s to July, a long month of fireworks…
1. complete another three chapters worth of rewrites for FJR
2. complete critiques for CWC (only two this month!)
3. complete critiques for UGWP (a lot more than two this month…darn prolific people…)
4. complete a short story to submit to UGWP

For everyone else out there working on completing pieces–best of luck and love to ya.

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