Where I am in my writing

When I graduated from SHU, almost a year ago, I was really hyped up on doing all the right things, taking all the right steps and getting my writing career off the ground. So I made a little list, and it looked a little like this:

Write short stories and submit them (read: get published)
Make a website
Make a reading/writing blog
Read a lot, classics, genre criticism, fantasy simultaneously
Rewrite novel
Fix synopsis
Get an agent

These items are generally arranged in the order that I would ideally complete them, but I didn’t expect it to necessarily to go as planned.

And this are the writing related things I’ve done since I graduated June 2009:
Created a website
Created a reading/writing blog… but it’s really boring
Written 3.5 stories
submitted 2 of those stories, both rejected
read 4 fantasy novels
read 1 folk tale collection
0 literary
Made a list of agents to submit my novel to
Critiqued a lot of other people’s work

Not too bad right? I’ve at least attempted to do most of the things on my list…Well, Yoda said “do or do not, there is no try.” So, I’m going to get a little more focused “doing” now.

What I need to do this summer:

Read more…learn to speed read?
Revise both rejected stories and re-submit
Finish partial story and submit
Rewrite novel and submit to agents


So hopefully with this spelled out right here, I can keep myself on track and get a foothold in my writing.


Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

thoughts on a rejection

I just received another story rejection. So that makes 2. I’m not suffering madly here, though I did go through the standard rejection blues for a while. So yes, that means I didn’t “just” get the rejection but it was recent, okay?

I waited a few weeks to let the story and the rejection get out of my head before posting this for a reason. I want to get further away from the story and see if I could tell why it got rejected-the editor (John Joseph Adams) didn’t give any explanation.

So in looked back on this tale, Trials of the Night, I think that despite the fact I really love this story, were I an editor I would not have chosen to purchase this story either.

To be up front, my story has a few things wrong with it that I let myself ignore when I submitted it: The imagery isn’t as strong as it could be. The plot is a little out of whack. Pace and description aren’t helping each other. And the structure is not optimal.

So why’d I let myself submit this? There was a deadline, and I hadn’t planned ahead enough for it. I didn’t even have another person read the story.

So why didn’t I just say “no way! This doesn’t have a chance?” I really love the story, and it is good, it just really needs more work. And if I didn’t submit it, then I would never know if it might have sold.

What is writing if not just one long learning experience?

So now I have this story out to a friend for some critiquing. I’m interested in seeing if he has the same problems with it that I think I do.


Currently Reading:Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford

I’ve just completed Patrick Ford’s The Mabinogi, a translation of medieval Welsh folk tales and mythological cycle. Reading this book lets me tick off one more on my list of reading to catch up on non-Greek mythology. I can say, with some embarrassment, that I have never heard of any element of these stories before, so when someone in my office glanced at the title of the book I was reading and commented, “obscure Welsh literature, great,” I felt a little absolved.

When I was just getting into the book, I was a little disappointed in the story telling. The story arcs rambled, and changed seemingly without explanation. Story lines ranged far beyond the interest point. And the laundry lists of heraldic titles and accomplishments; tasks and quests made for really dull reading. There was practically NO SHOWING. But that is what was recorded in the original manuscripts, which were written down by someone who heard someone else tell the oral story. Would the people back then simply “understand” all the tactile imagery that was possible when the characters go riding across the land? Had they done it all themselves, in an uneventful journey? The author of this book could only decipher what his modern day learnings let him to reach back and translate the Mabinogi.

The author, Patrick K. Ford is the Margaret Brooks Robinson Research Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. Needless to say he wrote this book with academic interests and not story telling in mind. Despite being very sparse, with little imagery and barely three dimensional characters the stories serve to give us 21st century denizens a peek into the ways of old cultures. However I can see how each of these 6 – 40 page stories could be turned into a rich novel, however dark.

These tales aren’t for the weak-of-stomach. From crushing skulls barehanded, stealing, rape, murder, torture to animal cruelty they show the worst of human nature. They show what people do to get what they want: woman, money, power, land, respect, honor and revenge. And sometimes people do terrible things to breach hindrances.

My favorite story was that of “Manawydan son of Llŷr.” Even though this story is rangy, and the events a little jerky we see magic, trouble, rescue, punishment by social decree and then the wrongs are righted. I just love happy endings; well I like it more when the jerks who were wrong get what’s coming. Mainly I like the story line where a group of people are displaced from their own land and must wander to find a new place, yet no matter how hard they work, they cannot find a place they fit in. And after some time they return home and break their curse. I like this because they didn’t give up. They didn’t sit idly waiting to find a way. Even when they weren’t trying to break the curse, they were working hard, trying to get by because they had to.

That's it for now. Maybe someday I'll come back to these tales for story fodder, or for further study.

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: Wizardry & Wild Romance, A Study of Epic Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

another sub

I made the deadline for John Joseph Adams anthology, Way of the Wizard. I submitted my story Trials of the Night, no it's not a vampire story.

It comes in very close to a 5000 word count. I wrote most of it in one day. The first bit came over the course of the week. The very final wrap up came the day after I wrote the end of the beginning, the middle and the beginning of the end.

The words kept coming and I kept driving the characters along their arcs. I had 2 subplots and a main plot. For a short story I think I did pretty well. In fact, my short story crafting has come a long way. I'll take this moment to be a little proud of myself.

I think it was a really great draft, which I then moved to revise immediately. I didn't get to let anyone else read it first, or even let it sit for a couple days as I would have liked. I wound up working on this story pretty much right up to last minute. I guess I didn't remember from college how much I hate doing that. From now on, I'm going to ah, try to get a jump on things and not wait for panic to hunt my muse down. Sit down and crank it out. Plan everything before I dive into the words. This phrase witch has learned. I'll say that much.

I have a new problem word, "now." It seems that I've gotten over some of my past ones such as "felt" and "looked."

Maybe I'll get a chance to finish those books down there...

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 1
Agent: 0

Dismal...

I seem to have a weakness for creating short story length plots for characters I spend any time on creating. It is now the 11th of March, and I have no plot for my wizard character. I've tried ditching the character and finding new ones and spending less time on development and more on plot. But my brain is not budging. Wizards are not inspiring me right now. For that matter neither are Witches or Sorcerers. I'm trying to hard and stifling my creativity.

Adding to the pile, as I work on my outlining skills I realize that I am not very disciplined in crafting stories on demand. I can do it, but nothing I come up with speaks to me, or has an ending. The stories are boring and I don't get excited enough to write the thing.

Maybe I just need to write the story by outline and see what happens. Doing so will help me feel out what I am doing with outlines verses characters.

At this rate, I don't think I'll make my deadline on March 31st. Hmm... maybe no Internet for a week if that happens?

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

burnt and busy

I've been busy and regrettably not as much with reading and writing as I'd like... GUILT...

I have been feeling a little burnt out with everything. There's been drama at work, drama with my apartment, travel and taxes. I've been so busy with work since the holidays I'd even taken time out from my local writing group, Rocketship Unicorn, and skipped this year's Boskone. Much Sadness.

But now, work has calmed down and I've ironed out many of the wrinkles that have cropped up recently. So I've said enough. Enough wishing, enough wasting time. I'm back to doing and getting things done. Finally getting back to my writing group last Wednesday really helped. We've changed the format a little and I think it was a great change. We're actively working instead of waiting for work to come by. Everyone was really energized about it and it just felt great to talk about writing to writers again.

I recently got a peek at Jeff Vandermeer's blog and one of the lines on it has impressed me greatly. "I'm not online tomorrow." Meaning he'll just be working on writing, not reading e-mail, surfing or reading blogs, or posting blogs, or sending e-mail. "Oh, my," I thought. "Just imagine how much time I'd save, how many more words I could write if I limited myself like that." When I think of actually doing it, I think that I can't possibly not check my email every day, not read my blog list, not chat with all my distant friends and check up on facebook's feeds. This, to me, looks like I'll need to change my lifestyle a little to fit my priorities, to accomplish my dreams.

I'll end this with some writing updates. I don't have any page counts, but I can say that I've written one story, a cyberpunk about the Ark of the Covenant that I got 'shopped in my group. I look forward to revising it and submitting that soon. Other than that I've been brainstorming on two other stories that I just can't pin down.

My next deadline is March 31st for an anthology called "Way of the Wizard" edited by John Joseph Adams. I have a really great character, now all I need is a plot. Looks like I shouldn't "be online" tomorrow huh...

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

sticking to it

Even though I haven't posted here, in my reading/writing blog for some time, I'm sticking to it. I'm coming back and journaling my most recently finished book, which I've had finished for a few weeks, but have not had the time to blog it.


Glen Cook
The Chronicles of the Black Company
Omnibus of the first three books in the Black Company series

I read this book in a strange circumstance. I read the second omnibus (last three books) before this one. So I already knew the characters, and what would happen to them in the future. Cook so dutifully referenced and explained many of the events of the first book in the second, I could say to myself, “ah yes, I remember this,” as I came across new scenes. This is a rather disappointing way to read a book. So I’m chalking up my less-than-thrilled reaction to that.

While not making for good reading, reading out of order made for good studying. I could see how he dips back to describe old events in the here-and-now later on--the amount of detail and action he needed to evoke the memory but not to go off on too much of a tangent.

Reading out of order also presented another odd reaction in me. I liked the characters more, and quicker upon starting the second book than the first. I also thought they were more fully introduced and described going into the second than the first. I would have thought this would be the other way around. But again, I got a lesson from this. Cook had probably gotten more into the characters’ heads after three books, and better knew how to introduce them later on. And also, he didn’t stop popping in insights and descriptions of them no matter how far into the story he got.

Another theory on my more intense character attachment later in the series is that they started different, more important roles in the beginning of the second book. One thing Cook is known for is telling stories from the point of view of the common man instead of kings, princes and heroes. In the first book, the characters are all no-ones in a mercenary outfit, however they are doing important things. Yet by the second book, they all of a sudden take on new, more important roles. I don’t want to put in spoilers here, so I won’t be specific. I’d almost argue that they aren’t “the common man” anymore. Yes they still have their roots in peasantdom, but they have considerable power over others via reputation, which draws them up in society. This seems just a little contrary to the “common man” motif Cook is known for.

So after reading the middle through the end, and then the beginning to the middle, I felt a little let down by the end of the first book. This was a major turning point in the series, and their world too. There was build up, and foreshadowing tension and suspense throughout the book, and I knew what was coming. But what I was interested in was how it would happen. And, I’ll say again, it didn’t seem like much. I think he could have written it “bigger.” What it boils down to is two, or three people fighting, be they gods or beggars, it still kinda looks the same. When you watch, or read about, an even match, it doesn’t look like much. What makes it impactful is the sense of importance the author imbues in it, which is directly related to the buildup of suspense/tension. What will happen if the good guys win? The bad? What are the implications? We knew what these were, but didn’t really see, at the end of the book, what the fallout was.

Recalling the beginning of the second book, that is where the fallout occurred. Cook structured his books, his six book series, to keep the readers buying. But for me, who read them out of order, it just made it fell flat.


Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Little, Big - John Crowley
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Soul Starved submission update

As you can see below, if you read from the bottom up, I currently have no flash submissions out.

I just got my rejection from Flash Fiction Online. I am positive though, for two main reasons, and a bunch of other ones.

Reason One:
It was a personal note, not a form rejection. They even said it had a strong start. This is good! It even asked me to consider them for future submissions. :)


Reason two:
With their suggested revisions, my story would be too long to submit as flash, but I planned for that with a submission schedule. So I know where it will go next, after I do some tweaking.

So, I'm not floundering, or desperate. I have a plan and am confident that I can sell this story (at some point).

Happy days ahead!


Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: 0
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Catching Up

Despite not posting, I have been wandering around the words. I've been working on finishing my current book so I can move on. One of my resolutions is to catch up on "the classics." By classics I mean Fantasy Classics. There are 4 or 5 books that I constantly hear about that I have never read. So I am going to remedy this.

As a writer, I sometimes feel that I don't have a good reading background. The fantasy novels I read that made me want to be a fantasy author were inspirations, but not real heavy hitters. Another reason to which I attribute my delinquency is a slight obsession I had with reading through the authors I loved, one at a time. And I only read from my small-town public library. I've since given up that habit--I think college broke me of it. And now I try to read a combination of the best Fantasy coming out now, classic literature and what I call "good writers." Good writers consists of authors whose styles are AMAZING but still didn't win any awards.

So I'm trying to finish the Cook omnibus (and getting there) so I can move onto I think I'll read John Crowly's Little Big. I like to see where my next step is.

While I'm on my way, getting through the book, what happens but the lightning of inspiration strikes me down. I've got a really cool idea for another short story. I'm not in the writing stage yet. I'm in the stage where I'm puzzle cubing two cool ideas together. I know there's a place for them to click. After enough "meditation" on it, I know it will click.

Off I go!

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: Soul Starved, to Flash Fiction Online
Short: 0
Agent: 0

Little steps

I just submitted my fantasy story Soul Starved to Flash Fiction Online.

Next step wait 2-3 months for a reply.

While I do that... I'm going to get cranking on the novel again.

Go me!

Currently Reading:
Fantasy: Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook
Scholarly: The Mabinogi - Patrick K. Ford
Writing:(I'm slacking here)

Submissions out:
Flash: Soul Starved to Flash Fiction Online
Short: 0
Agent: 0