Next?

I got the rewrite for "High Moon" finished and sent it off. I believe I did a good job but was reaching a point of diminishing returns so I needed to get it out. I'm meeting my writing buddy again tomorrow and I'm thinking of starting a new story, except there's going to be a problem with that.

I've got some personal stuff piling up on me for the next month so I might not have much time for writing. Not much I can do; I can't get out of it. (I've tried.) So I don't want to start a story and then leave it hanging...but then again I don't want to take that kind of time off when I'm sort of in a groove of story writing.

So I guess I'll probably start the story and hope I can catch up to it and give it the attention it needs in the coming weeks. Like Pooh says:

"Oh, bother!'

Show Me The Money

While I maintain print was long overdue for a shake up, I don't view this economic downturn as any kind of validation for self-publishing.

Here's how it works: Money flows to the writer.

That holds true in all cases. I don't care how many magazines go under. Or how desperate you get to see your stuff published.

We're Writers. We Write.

I maintain the print magazines that are going under is a good thing in the long run for our industry. Let's face it. Print has needed a high colonic cleansing for a very long time now. The cobwebs needed to be cleared out. Heck, in the last couple of years I've seen changes in print magazines that were a direct result from economic forces manifesting themselves from online magazines.

Rejection return is one such example. I know I'm not alone here. Online magazines tend to have a faster turnaround for rejection/accepting stories. I saw print magazines make a real effort to catch up in this regard over the last two years. Same for payment and publication of stories.

I'm not pro-print or pro-online or anti- either one. I'm pro-WRITER. That's why I believe in the long run this will be a good thing for both writers and the publishing industry. It's capitalism, red in tooth and claw. In our profession magazines die and others take their place. Sometimes they prosper and sometimes they don't. Like the song says, the times they are a-changin'. Writers and magazines who adapt will succeed. Those that don't will fall by the wayside.

There are no guarantees in this brutal business. But you knew that before you jumped in with both feet. And if you didn't you just had a dash of cold water to the face which is also a good thing. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Especially in this industry.

Realms of Fantasy is just the first. I expect many more "Big" science fiction and fantasy magazines will go under as well. I can see the death rattle in two of them right now and if you pay attention to the markets like I do I'm sure you can, too. And don't think it will be confined to print because plenty of online paying magazines will go belly up as well. I'm not happy about it. I don't like it anymore than you do. But let's get real here. We knew this was going to happen sooner or later. The trick is to remember why we are here in the first place.

We're writers. We write. We would do so if there were no magazines whatsoever to publish in. At least I would and you probably would, too.

Yeah, it's bad right now. Downright nasty. And it's going to get worse. But in the long run lessons will be learned and other magazines will have the opportunity to fill the vacuum. I really do believe this will be good for writers and publishers in the long run.

Hang in there. And remember you're a writer first.

We'll get through this. We always do. And so will the magazines.

"High Moon" Rewrite

Beneath Ceaseless Skies wants a rewrite for "High Moon" one of my Haxan stories. The editor really had some good suggestions. Now it's up to me to see how I can make them work. If I can, I definitely think the story will be better overall and the conflict between Marwood and Bull Hod that much sharper.

It won't be easy, but I like challenges. Now I HAVE to finish "Alpenglow" in the next several days so I can hit this rewrite hard. I'm excited. Not so much about the almost-sale, but how the story will be so much stronger in light of the changes the editor wants. He really did have some good suggestions and I was flattered he took the time.

Oh, and tomorrow I meet my writing buddy. That will help. Maybe I can bounce ideas off her.

A little more reading for tonight and I'm off to bed....

Words

I'm doing some reading today. I did the little corrections on the story last night (they had to do with the timeline of Sacajawea's life and the controversy surrounding it) and wrote another page or so. I'm set up good for when I meet my writing buddy tomorrow and work on the story. It's coming together and as I as lying in bed last night I saw the ending really taking shape.

I'm still on track to finish "Alpenglow" this week. Got some reading to catch up on today, though, so I'm setting aside time for that.

My foot still hurts and I'm not moving around much. Shame, because it's nice outside and I'd like to go for a walk.

Leftover pizza for lunch today, I think.

Me Productive

I had a bad migraine the last day or so and it cut into my ability to work on my story. I need to be more productive this weekend which means I want to meet the goal of finishing my new story. That's my goal. So I must buckle down and write, write, write.

Now, where did I put that comic book...?

Queries and Tigers and Bears, oh, my!

One thing I would like to see is some sort of standardization with queries. Seriously. Some agents want a query letter and synopsis and first three chapters. Some want query and synopsis. Some want just the query -- email only, please. Some want query snail mailed. Some want query, a three page synopsis and first ten pages of the manuscript. Some....

Well, you get the idea. A writer friend of mind was telling me how she was mailing out queries and practically every agent she was contacting wanted it done differently. "Jump through that hoop, monkey writer dog...."

Of course, I don't know how you would implement said process. Even though we have standardization in format for manuscripts the query thing would be more difficult to enforce since it reflects agents' desires. I get that.

But, yeah, anything that makes *my* life easier I'm all for.

Keep going, baby. You know you like it.

I was talking to my writing buddy today at the coffee shop about show don't tell in fiction. And it got me to thinking.

I have a problem with over description in my stories. I can just describe, describe, describe a scene in the most exquisite (and therefore exhausting) detail and be happier than a spanked monkey in a rainstorm. I love delving into detail. Minute detail. Tiresome detail. To the detriment of the quality, and salability, of my fiction.

Fortunately, I recognized this fault early on and made a move to address it. But it's a constant battle. When I'm writing today I'm always aware of word count. I can look back on ten-thousand word stories I wrote ten or fifteen years ago and now see if I wrote them today they'd be half the length. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

To make her point my writing buddy was talking about Lord of the RIngs and how Tolkien went into detail of describing every blade of grass. It made her put the book down and lose interest, she said. But I loved that stuff in LOTR because it was scratching that description itch between my shoulder blades I constantly battle.

Ideally, there has to be a balance. I'm trying to find that balance in all my fiction, particularly the Haxan stories. In one of the stories I used a descriptor of how the moon was like an orange lantern in the sky. A couple of people said they really liked it. I liked it, too, but I remember sititng there when I wrote that wanting to tell how the light was playing on the desert and cactus, giving it an unearthly quality. You know. Go into minute detail. Slap the reader across the face with it. But I held back, recognizing that the original description of the moon as an orange lantern did that already.

Live and learn, right?

I'm not big on minimalism, either, but it has its place. When it's done well it can be more effective than a dense block of descriptive text. It's just hard to do, imo.

Even so I can't help but remember a friend many years back who said to me, "Wow, you really know how to paint a picture. It's one of your strengths. You're very good at description."

Me: "I know."

Unfortunately, I've never gotten the humility thing licked.

"Alpenglow"

It's a nice sunny day so I sat out on the deck and started a new story, "Alpenglow". It's another Haxan tale and the idea I had percolating for "Samsara" but just retitled.

I've got four pages done. Not bad, I guess. I'm starting to see where it's going and the direction looks promising so far. Maybe it won't entirely suck once I'm done. This one is shaping up to have heavier fantasy elements than the others, though. We'll see how it comes out in the wash.

I might do a little more tonight, but this is a decent start. I'm satisfied.

Oh, and I think I'm going to make spaghetti and homemade focaccia bread for dinner tonight. Yum!

Resolutions

I"m going to concentrate on short stories again this year. But if a big project comes along and interests me then I might do it. I'm leaving myself open to that possibility which is something I didn't do last year.

But mostly short stories, I think.