News and Views

We went to Faro, Portugal, for a four day break. It was truly lovely. We wandered around, had lots of good food (mostly fish, not to mention the delicious pastel de nata) and wine (porto!), listen to music (Fado!),  and generally just chilled. It was a good break. I actually managed to relax, which is rare. And I've started on a new short story for a Codex contest. I don't quite know where it's going, or even if I'll finish it, but I like the opening, and it's a nice feeling to be working on new words.

Edit's on Orion's Shadows are done and off to the agent. Hopefully, he won't mind the instances where I went against his advice. I've also added the opening quotes for both parts, something I had been thinking about earlier. Now, if the agent likes the result, we will draft a list of editors to send this to--and then the waiting will start. From what I've heard, anything from a month to a year... With Christmas coming, I doubt it will be a month. I hope it won't be a year, though, because I'll go mad if I have to wait that long. Now I should be sensible and start on a new, unrelated project.  But I'm not sensible. So I'll either start on the sequel, or sit around pulling hair till I hear from the publishers. Wish me luck.

Well, I've jinxed it. The story is back with a personal rejection--very friendly, but still a rejection. Weirdly, this time the editor said the ending didn't work for them, while the previous personals loved the end in particular… Another proof that it's all a matter of taste. And so the story goes off to the next market. Of all my stories (and there aren't many as I"m not really a short-form writer), this one I'm really stubborn about. Maybe because it's so much "me" in the way it plays with the theme of choices that I come back to again and again in all of my writing. Well, I keep sending it out till it finds a home. And if it doesn't, then I'll keep it to one day give away as a Patreon bonus or something. You know, when I'm famous enough to have a Patreon which anybody other than my mother will support... ;) Current mood: philosophical

And, with a little help from my friends, the story got cut to 5,935 words. I must say I'm amazed, because I don't think I've lost anything really significant from the 7,300-word version. Importantly, the story has kept the tone, and the character's voice. That makes me happy. Now, to find it a good home. I've submitted it already, but I'm not sure it will be the perfect fit for this market--it's a cross genre story with a rather science-fictiony feel, except it features magic and witches... I do love this story, though, so I hope it will find a home one day.

Trying to cut a 7,300-word story to submit to a publication with an upper limit of 6,000. After much sweating and culling, I've cut over a thousand words, but it's still not enough. I'm worried though that more cuts will erode the character's voice and the extra stuff that turns a plot into a story . It's now in that very delicate territory where some sentences are not strictly necessary, but each of them ads to the mood and the experience you want the reader to have. Because that's what stories are--experiences, rather than just lists of events or character traits. Not even lists of emotions. It's the whole package, carefully structured, with the "redundancies" as necessary as windows in a cathedral. Still, another 250 words need to be cut. I hope I still have a story when that's done.

In the effort of writing avoidance, Ive taken to desperate measures and spent the last three days remodelling my office. Furniture got moved, boxes of stuff got relocated, pictures got rehung. I got rid of loads of junk I never use and freed up lots of extra space. I really like the changes, but unfortunately, upon completion of that effort, the outline for part 4 of the book hasn't miraculously materialised. However, there maybe light at the end of this tunnel. Last week I set up a Skype chat to discus the novel with a wise friend (you know who you are, if you read this). The chat happened today, and I was very reluctant to discus anything beyond cats and dogs, and hurricanes, but the friend wouldn't let me go... So plot breaking happened, ideas got exchanged and more concepts are now taking shape.  I feel I'm getting closer. Not quite there yet, but almost. So, yay? MOOD: tired but hopeful

Notes transcribed for Orion's part 3. Still not quite happy with it, but getting closer. Part 4 is beginning to take shape in that it's revealed a gaping hole where something's missing. I even  roughly know what's missing, but not enough to start filling the hole... Darn endings are hard.