I received my first ever official rejection today.
I feel pretty good about that. Great even.
I know. It’s weird, but it makes sense really.
short story
All posts tagged short story
Wow. It’s been almost 2 months since my last post. Sorry about that.
I’ve been busy with work, life and assorted drama. I’m still here, so it’s all to the good.
I’m working as much as I can on my re-write of Revenant. My main issue these days is the whole “show, don’t tell” rule/guideline. That is my focus these days when I put words down. I still hope to be finished by the end of the summer, but I’m not rushing things either. I have a strong plot, good characters and in the end, I think it will be a good story.
Outside of my re-write, the workshop at TMI has ended (I am sad) but I’ve taken the final assignment, polished it up a little more and sent it out as a submission to a paying market! Yay!
As I’ve said before, this is a win in my book. Acceptance, rejection, rejection with notes are all icing on the literary cake. While it would be nice to sell something, it’s ok if I don’t because if I keep writing and following it all the way through, eventually SOMETHING will sell. Any other outcome can only mean improvement of my writing.
Besides, I’d love to actually meet my goal and collect 10 rejections this year (if not more).
I have a great idea for a short story. Really, I do. In my head, it sounds great. When I explain it, it sounds cool.
As we quickly learn when we write, ideas are a dime a dozen and an idea alone is not what makes a good story.
It’s Tuesday and it feels like Wednesday or later, this is the rare time where this is a good thing.
I cruised by 35K yesterday and my current goal is to hit 40K by tomorrow night (natch). I’ve got some good stuff on deck and I can easily fill 15K with it. I am good to go.
Writing group on Sunday was fun and productive. The weather was perfect to sit outside, so I made the most of it. I got to discuss writing and writing related matters with two of the most intelligent people I know. I got some great feedback as well.
They managed to put into words what I sensed was wrong with my short story “Kenneth” and I intend to do a serious rewrite in September taking those notes in consideration. That was a great learning experience. I will try to do better and I can’t wait to see the outcome!
We brainstormed my WIP and came up with some really great ideas and some things that I need to think about. More and more, I see that I’ve neglected my characters in planning this thing. It’ll be something to consider when I rewrite in a few months.
I also got a chance to discuss their works, which is something that I’m very interested in. I want to help as much as they help me. In helping them, I learn.
All in all, it was a success and charred meat was had in celebration! It made for a great day in a great weekend.
I’m mildly miffed, although I’m not sure I have a right to be and it really isn’t a big deal. It’s more of an “huh.” moment.
I just realised I hadn’t updated the site in a while, so I decided to show signs of life.
Work has been work. Home life has been busy, but good.
My daughter took her first steps yesterday! We are thrilled. Yesterday also marked the first time visiting her future daycare. My wife and I have decided to have our daughter stay with the home daycare across the street. We have been very impressed by their setup, plans and general personalities. They are very nice people and Anna loves them.
I’ve been mostly working on my upcoming short story submission. The good news is that the submission date has been pushed back a couple of weeks, which is allowing me to do some needed rewrites. The bad news is that I’ve passed the honeymoon phase with this story and I’m settling into the “oh god what have I gotten into?” phase. I’ve decided on a major rewrite, changing 2 characters and a sequence of events. This will be the third rewrite, but hopefully it will be the last. I can’t wait to put this one in the “mail” and be done with it, for good or ill.
The Basement Office 