Writing process, cont'd.

It's a funny thing, writing seriously. As I told my friend Brittany a while back, I feel as if I've simultaneously leveled up and leveled down. I'm getting a much better sense of what works and what doesn't, what's unnecessary, what's cliche. I'm starting to know what's not going to untangle in the edits-- and I feel compelled to do something about it.

I never mentioned her that, at the beginning of January, I decided to start over on Dwellers Below. Scrap it. The 82,000 words on the side of the page are a memorial to what once was. The current total is closer to 6,000-- and that's after three weeks of steady work. Sure, the words are better, and I'm much closer to the story I originally wanted to tell. At the same time, though, it's pretty discouraging to go in a day from "halfway there" to "just getting started."

I've had to relax a bit on the short story I'm writing, though-- if I'd kept up the inch-by-inch perfectionism there I'd never have finished it. I've finally finished writing the first draft in a grand sweep, and just started the first pare-down. This story was inspired by a dream I had six or seven years ago, so I'm pretty excited to get it polished and move on to the next thing.

Frustrations aside, though, it's been a lot of fun figuring out my writing process. I sincerely hope that the fun will continue!

(P.S. I finished Green Rider about a week ago, loved it to death, and am dying to get on to the next book in the sequel. The problem: I've forbidden myself to buy any more ebooks until I'm at least done with the next book on my reading list.

Which is Middlesex.

At least these behemoths are easy to carry around on a Kindle!)

New thing

So: if you were wondering: I'm (probably) starting a new thing. I will try to start each day's writing with 20 minutes on whatever short story is in the works. Once I finish a piece, I'll submit it down the list of the SFWA's qualifying short fiction venues, in descending order of probable interest. (I doubt, however, that I'll have the patience for the ones that don't allow online submissions.) If none of them bite, I will put the piece up here. That way you (three) get to see what I'm doing, and I get to... practice submitting things.

The first story is tentatively called "Snow on the Beach."

Before writing this, I tabbed up a lot of those venues' websites for a look-see. It just so happened that Apex Magazine has a story about an undine. Who loves a good undine? You know I do. Best: It's not fantasy so much as horror. Very funny; very creepy; beautifully written. An author to watch!

That's all.